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ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS, 



B Y 



14VT 



ROSS WINAKS 



"1 believe in God the Father Almighty ', Maker of Heeivei 
and Earth, and of all Things Visible and Invisible." 

Book of Common Prayer. 




, BALTIMORE: 
JOHX P. DES FORGES, 

3 St. Paul Street. 

1870. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870. by 

ROSS W I N A N S , 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maryland. 



PREFACE. 



In offering to the public, now put together in form, 
what was originally a series of papers, we desire, at the 
beginning, to set ourselves right as to its originality — be 
it more or less. We are equally anxious to avoid the 
imputation of having used any other man's thoughts with- 
out acknowledgment, and of having perverted to our own 
ends any borrowed ideas or language. The necessity for 
some explanation on this point will, perhaps, be made 
more obvious, and the explanation more easy, if we state 
simply and candidly the circumstances under which what 
follows was composed — or compiled. 

In the course of contemplating man's duty to his 
Maker, to his fellow man, and to himself, we drew the 
conclusions that are embodied in the following pages. 
These were at times committed to writing, but without 
any view to publication. They were in the main definite 
enough ; but, coming from a pen unused to literary labor, 
they were lacking in method and finish. At a later 
period, and during a residence in Europe, we fell in with 
a variety of books on kindred topics, full of research and 
scholarship, well arranged, well argued, cogent, convinc- 
ing. Recognizing their value in the available information 
they contained and the striking manner in which it was 
conveyed, we extracted — without ceremony — here a pas- 
sage, and there a phrase, and wove them in among our 



iv PREFACE. 

own. It was not so much that we were impressed with 
the force and novelty of the ideas of others ; we were 
glad rather to find ready at hand the means of expressing 
and elucidating what we had thought and felt. In parts 
even, where the very language of some popular author 
has been adopted, as eminently fit to serve our purpose, 
it will be seen that our conclusions are essentially differ- 
ent from his. To have given him credit therefore at the 
moment, by foot note or otherwise, might have laid us 
open to the charge of having garbled or misrepresented 
him. Besides, at the time when we availed ourselves of 
the facilities then open before us, we made no memoran- 
dum of the sources whence we borrowed. At a still later 
period, and with a view to completing and publishing the 
papers here expanded into a volume, we sought the occa- 
sional aid of pens more methodical and facile than our 
own. The result has been, that the original portions 
became inextricably mingled with what was borrowed 
and what was amended. If we would separate them, we 
should find it difficult, if not impossible — remote as we 
are from the libraries to which we resorted. 

In short, we beg to state without reserve, that we have 
borrowed freely from any quarter, when we held that the 
cause of truth could be served thereby. Furthermore, we 
shall endeavor, by aid of inquiry and memory, to make 
out and publish, at the end of this work, a complete tlis 
of the authors to whom we have been indebted. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



What is here presented we desire shall be viewed 
and considered as an enquiry on behalf of truth. Our 
stand-point is the omnipotence and perfection of the One 
God, a sense of whose existence is an instinct common to 
our race, and who governs man solely by the properties 
originally implanted in him. Our belief is, that man 
being thus governed, and trained through time and during 
eternity, a good and happy result must ensue to each 
individual. 

The history of the human race shows that various and 
widely varying forms of worship, creeds, doctrines, dog- 
mas, and theologies have been propounded, preached, and 
pressed upon the attention of man, at different times and 
in different countries. We believe, however, that there 
is but one religion existing in any country, or in any age, 
that is acceptable to God ; that whatever else takes upon 
it the name, form, or guise of religion is of no practical 
value. • 

The sense of true religion — as well as every other 
faculty and power of the mind, and soul of man — is 
implanted in each and every one born into the world. 
Out of it, as from a germ, comes and ever will come, 
spontaneously — as the tree comes from the acorn — all 
that man ever has been, or ever will be. It makes him 
what he is, and gives him what he has, whether of 



vi INTRODUCTORY. 

morals, science, arts, civilization, or anything else that 
pertains to his mental or spiritual being. And this one 
and only true religion God has so indelibly engraved on 
the heart and conscience of every accountable human 
being as to ensure that all men shall eventually worship 
Him acceptably, and be made happy themselves, not- 
withstanding many adverse appearances here. 

History shows that this religion of the heart and con- 
science is intermingled with all the different theological 
systems, of which we have knowledge. This also is the 
only ingredient that is common to them all ; whence it 
may be inferred, that it is best adapted for man's wants 
and God's requirements ; in short, that it is the only 
religion ordained and approved by God. Nor can any 
amount of false teaching eradicate, or render it inop- 
erative. Moreover, since God never changes, it will 
never change. It operates as God willed it should, to 
shape the lives and conduct of men, and to restrain them 
within the limits prescribed by the free agency which He 
has granted to them. Whatever worship or reverence 
man renders to God — whatever morality or goodness he 
manifests in his intercourse with men — all are derived 
from this source and prompting alone. Whatever of 
irreverence, immorality, impiety, or wrong-doing he prac- 
tises, in spite of this religion, finds no restraint in any 
other ; no, not even in that which makes use of the threat 
of eternal punishment, to intimidate him. Further, we 
believe that the divine government was made perfect 
from the first, and therefore, not being subject to altera- 
tion or amendment, there are no such things as special, or 
supernatural providences, all occurrences taking place 
under guidance of the never varying laws of Nature. 
Again: we believe that all rewards and punishments are 



INTRODUCTORY, vii 

alike benevolently intended ; that the latter, though 
never vindictive, are never relaxed, and that both are 
designed by God for the sole purpose of training man to 
the destiny marked out for him. This training, which 
begins on this side of the grave, continues beyond it, and 
during eternity, to the end that every human being shall 
become more and more god-like, and capable of appre- 
ciating God's glory and rendering Him higher praise and 
worship. 

From these remarks it will be seen that while we 
accept every portion of the Bible that is in accordance 
with the Bible written in men's hearts — or in other 
words, with natural religion — we repudiate all that pro- 
fesses to be based upon its supernatural or special inspira- 
tion. 

We object to what the Church demands, an unbounded 
and unjustifiable confidence in the infallibility of the 
writings of Moses and the Prophets, and the Evangelists, 
and the Apostles. We dissent from a sentimental attach- 
ment to an impossible compound of God and man. We 
protest that Christian theology, as we have it, is not 
taught by God Himself, nor by Christ himself, nor is it 
consistent with established facts, nor is it comprehensible 
by our reason. We would show you that Christianity, 
as taught among us, is no better than other systems 
taught in other than Christian countries, and in some 
respects not so good. 

These are the objects of this publication. If in the 
course of presenting our views, any thing should be said 
which may be deemed offensive or disrespectful to those 
who hold contrary opinions, certainly no such offence or 
disrespect is intended. We write under an honest con- 
viction of the truth, and yield nothing to preconceived 



viii INTRODUCTORY. 

views. Truth is truth, and will find its way. to the sur- 
face. Shrieks and lamentations over the scepticism and 
free-thinking of the nineteenth century will not serve the 
purpose of concealing it. Nor is it desirable that it 
should be concealed. We must believe, not what it is 
convenient, or comfortable, or customary to believe; but 
what is most in accordance with truth. Truth, and not 
what is called orthodoxy, should be our prime object. It 
is not enough, to maintain w T hat we believe ; we must 
believe what we maintain. Any one may bring himself 
to give blind assent to that which he is inclined to believe, 
or thinks it becoming or expedient to believe, but this is 
not genuine belief. It is one thing to wish to have truth 
on our side; and another to w T ish, in all sincerity, to be on 
the side of truth. If the conclusions, at which we arrive, 
have the weight of evidence in their favor, we have no 
alternative but to accept them and bide the results. 
Neither is there occasion to contemplate with uneasiness 
the admission of truth, or the result of being governed by 
it, in any matters whatsoever, and more particularly in 
those pertaining to religion. God did not endow us with 
perceptive and reasoning faculties, in order that they 
mio-ht be employed upon all other subjects, and remain 
torpid in relation to that one subject only. We hold to 
'it, therefore, that the truth must be accepted at all haz- 
ards, even if it lead to a denial of the supernatural inspi- 
ration of Scripture and all dogmas connected therewith, 
which we are fully persuaded it will do. 

Nor, we repeat it, need the prospect of this alarm 
the most timid. God, the Father, who alone governed 
the world from the first, governs it now, and will ever 
govern it. No broader foundation for the faith of all 
men in their eternal welfare is possible, than that laid by 



INTRODUCTORY. ix 

God Himself when He established his never changing 
laws ; and when He so constituted and endowed man, 
that under the influence and effect of such unvarying laws, 
he should be conducted to the happy destiny designed for 
him from the first. The only fear in these matters, 
becoming to man, is a fear lest he fail in watchfulness to 
guard against violations of God's laws pertaining to his 
being ; lest he fail in any portion of his duty to God and 
to his fellow-creatures. All else may be implicitly left 
to his Maker and benefactor. 

In all countries, whether civilized or uncivilized, the 
popular system of theology has invariably been claimed 
to be based on some supernatural revelation from God. 

The founders or acknowledged heads of these systems 
have claimed, or it has been claimed for them by their 
followers, that they were supernaturally inspired, and 
miraculously and specially endowed and commissioned of 
God to make His will and word known to mankind. 
Among the persons claiming or who have been claimed, 
to have been so inspired and commissioned, and who 
have gained extensive credence in such claim, are the 
following: Moses, the great leader, historian, and Prophet 
of the Jews, fourteen or fifteen hundred years before 
Christ ; Zoroaster, who founded the theology that prevails 
among the Parsees, certainly not less than twelve hun- 
dred years before Christ, Confucius, born five hundred and 
fifty-one years before Christ, the most eminent teacher of 
natural religion in the great Chinese nation ; Buddha, 
who founded a system of worship in India, called Buddh- 
ism, five hundred years before Christ; Godama, who, 
also about five hundred years before Christ, founded the 
system of worship which now prevails in the Burmese 
Empire, Christ, ihe claimed basis of the Christian theol- 



x INTRODUCTORY. 

ogy ; and Mohammed, the founder of the Mohammedan 
creed. 

Among the so-called sacred books embodying systems 
of theology and said to be derived from supernatural 
inspiration are the following. The Old Testament of the 
Jews; the Zend-Avesta of the Parsees ; the Great Learn- 
ing of the Chinese ; the Rig Veda of the Hindoos ; the 
Vini Pidimot of the Burmese Empire; the Christian 
Bible ; and the Koran. 

All or most of the church dogmas, legends, fables, and 
traditions, in relation to the miraculous conception, birth, 
miracles, and other pretended supernatural circumstances 
connected with the history of Jesus, are borrowed from — 
or find their counterpart in — the several systems of wor- 
ship founded and practised from four to twelve centuries 
before his birth. 

The historic part of the Bible, in relation to the crea- 
tion of the world, has it counterpart also in the several 
systems of theology here mentioned. They all had their 
cosmologies based on equally good authority and equally 
wide of the truth, as that recorded in the Bible. This 
will appear hereafter, when we come to look into the 
history of the Ancient creeds just mentioned. The time 
and manner of the creation, no man has ever known, or 
ever will know, in this life ; nor is such knowledge of 
importance in preparing ourselves for the life to come. 



OlSTE KELIGION: MAM CKEEDS. 



I. 

Man needs no teaching to be convinced that there is a 
God, the creator, the sustainer, the preserver, and the 
governor of the universe. The idea is innate, imperative, 
and essential, and declares itself in the mind and con- 
science so soon as the human being begins to observe, to 
compare, and to reason. There is no one, however rude 
or ignorant — unless he be idiotic, or otherwise incapable 
of consecutive thought — who has not some notion, how- 
ever vague, of this great and almighty Being. There is 
no one in the exercise of his intellectual faculties, who 
would not recognize the existence of a God as an absolute 
and necessary truth, even if there had been no other 
book to teach it, than the great book of Nature. The 
earth, the sea, the sun, the moon, and all the hosts of 
Heaven, spread out before him in their infinite beauty 
and majesty, each silently but eloquently and irresistibly 
proclaims that they have had a divine, omnipotent, 
eternal, and infinite cause and maker. Man has, more- 
over, not alone an intuitive conviction of the existence 
of an overruling Spirit, he is conscious that he has 
within himself a soul, in affinity — in a limited sense — 
with that great overruling Spirit. 



2 SOME PRETEND TO INSPIRATION. 

But while all men are thus conscious not only that 
God is, but that God must be, and that the spirit of man 
bears a certain relation to Him, some men, pretending 
to be preternaturally and directly inspired by God to 
declare His will and to explain His nature and His 
attributes, have made assertions and propounded doc- 
trines, at various times and among various nations, that 
have greatly bewildered the minds of their fellow-men. 
These artificial teachings and vain imaginings — whether 
they be called mythologies, theologies, religions, faiths, 
or systems of belief — contradict each other on the most 
vital and fundamental points. Some of them assert that 
there is but one God, and that He is not only spiritual, 
but physicial and material, having a body and organs 
like a man. Some have exalted human attributes, cloth- 
ing humanity in beautiful or majestic forms, and have 
denied their own production. Some have adopted a pre- 
cisely opposite course, and have invented fantastic and 
hideous divinities. Some deny God's personality, and 
teach that all Nature is the body, of which he is the 
animating soul. Some say that there are two Gods, one 
the God of good, the other the God of evil — and that the 
two are constantly at war with each other. Others main- 
tain that there are three Gods, co-eternal and co-equal in 
power, in wisdom, and in glory, and that these three 
are one, and must be worshipped as one. The second 
person — say they — in this triune divinity stands toward 
the first in the relation of the Son to the Father ; while 
the third also is a person, and proceeds from the Father 
and the Son. The earliest nations appear to have been 
taught, either that the sun — the most glorious lumi- 
nary visible to the unassisted human eye — was God, or 
that the number of the Gods was as infinite as the 



SIGNS AND CREEDS AT VARIANCE. 3 

manifestations of Nature. Even Abraham and Moses, 
who believed and taught the unity of God, attributed 
to this all-wise, all-just, all-good, all-knowing, and all- 
mighty being, the form of a man. Moses pretended to 
have talked with him face to face "as a man talketh 
with his friend," and declared that he had been permitted 
to see His "back parts." In the Pentateuch, and indeed 
throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God is 
described as being ignorant and short-sighted, and pos- 
sessing many of the passions of the human creatures 
whom He Himself has made. 

Creeds and modes of worship have been many and 
various ; but there is not one of them now accepted in 
the world, which has not, however pure and lofty some 
may be in their moral teachings, promulgated and endea- 
vored to palm upon popular credence the most astounding 
scientific and historical errors and untruths. Thus they 
have acted, to some extent, as a drag upon the intellect, 
and an impediment to the progress of mankind. They 
were written for the most part by priests of the various 
theologies and forms of faith which they were designed to 
uphold, and often with the too palpable purpose of keep- 
ing the people in ignorance and of maintaining the priest- 
hood as a privileged class. All of them of Asiatic origin 
and authorship, and declared in their several countries to 
be the direct, infallible, unerring utterances of God, they 
have given currency to the most vulgar and debasing 
fictions, and represented God as something like an Orien- 
tal Caliph or Sultan, subject to lusts and vices and fits 
of cruel anger, and constantly liable to be thwarted in 
His designs by powers of evil whom He desired, but was 
not able, to destroy. 



4 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

All these myths and dreams have varied in different 
ages and countries, according to the character of the 
nations which adopted and nominally believed them, and 
they have come down to us from an antiquity so remote, 
as to be impenetrable. They are partly to be traced to 
the most ancient civilization, the record of which has 
been preserved by tradition and sepulchral monuments — 
and notably to India, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Egypt. 
In their original forms these mythologies have perished — 
except in India and non-Mahommedan Asia, where they 
are still accepted by the unreasoning multitudes of half 
the human race. 

A portion, however, of these fables, greatly modified 
in form and detail, was borrowed from the Egyptians, 
first by the Jews under Moses, and secondly by the Ara- 
bians under Mahomet. So far as the books attributed to 
Moses and other priests and prophets of the Hebrews, are 
concerned, these fables are held forth to this day as 
grounds for belief and guides for conduct to all the so- 
called Christian nations of the world. We, as Chris- 
tians — according to the common acceptation of the term — 
and sharers in the advancing civilization of the nineteenth 
century, are mainly interested in the theology and doc- 
trines of Moses and Jesus. All other systems of belief, 
except natural religion, which is universal, being accepted 
of all men in all places, modern civilization has agreed to 
condemn. Even the most devout Christian laughs at 
the grotesque stories, and speaks with contemptuous pity 
f the superstitious absurdities of all mythologies except 
his own. But let his own rules of criticism be applied to 
the Old and New Testament, and it will immediately be 
condemned as heretical; and the critic himself will be 
accused of impiety and infidelity. This very state of 



o 



THE JEWS BUT LITTLE KNOWN. 5 

things prevails in Asia, where the teachings of Moses and 
Christ receive as little respect from the priests of Ori^ital 
theologies, as Christians bestow upon the myths of the 
Hindoos, or the nihilism improperly attributed to the 
Buddhists. 

Up to the birth of Jesus, the Jews had their cosmogony 
and theology entirely to themselves. The outer world 
knew nothing of their sacred books ; and, indeed, only 
knew the Jews themselves as a small and peculiar people, 
in whom there was nothing to esteem or imitate. No 
one challenged their doctrine, for the reason that no 
one understood or cared anything about it. Whatever 
schism or difference of opinion may have existed among 
them, in their own little country, was on minor matters, 
and Moses and the Prophets seemingly reigned supreme. 
But a different state of things was about to prevail. 
Jesus, known during his life as the son of a carpenter, 
and claiming direct royal descent from David and Solo- 
mon, challenged the truth of this ancient system, and 
became a most conspicuous reformer. He protested 
chiefly against the superstitious ceremonies of the Mosaic 
ritual. His protest was indeed partial, though, as far as 
it went, strong and decided. It was a very important 
movement towards separating that which was claimed to 
be religion, from that which was, and is really religion — 
between that which causes contention, and that which all 
agree upon. 

But very little progress had been made amongst the 
Jews in the arts and sciences — indeed very little was 
made for a long time after the introduction of Christianity. 
The printing press, that grand medium for the dissemina- 
tion of knowledge, is comparatively a modern invention, 
not having been introduced until the middle of the fif- 



6 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

teenth century. There were do microscopes to reveal to 
the delighted intellect of man the wonders that lie con- 
cealed in apparent nothingness — no telescopes to unveil 
to him the countless worlds and planetary systems which, 
but for it, never would have been discovered. The law 
of gravitation — that universal, infinite, governing power, 
by which the whole universe is sustained — was unsus- 
pected. Electricity, known probably to some extent, was 
employed only in tricks and artifices to startle and sur- 
prise those who were ignorant of its effects. The science 
of Geology was very imperfect. Astrology was far more 
esteemed than Astronomy. The earth was thought by all 
nations to be the centre of the universe. The sun was 
looked upon as nothing more than a lamp hung in the 
heavens to give light to this superior orb. Indeed it was 
not even known to be an orb ; the idea prevailed, that it 
was a vast extended plane without visible limits. 

Under these circumstances, Jesus could make no protest 
against the Mosaic history or tradition. He was neces- 
sarily compelled to accept these as he found them. 
Rejecting the Mosaic notion of the character and attri- 
butes of God, he earnestly protested against the doctrine 
that the Deity, whose gospel he preached, was a God of 
hatred or anger, or subject to the passions or imperfections 
of humanity. He loudLy proclaimed in the highways and 
the byways, and to all descriptions of people — but chiefly 
to the poor and the unhappy — that God is a God of Love, 
a Spirit to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, a God 
who demands of His creatures no vain observances, no 
heavy burdens of ceremonials, but a cheerful, happy 
enjoyment of life, provided they keep within the limits 
of the divine laws, which are neither galling nor heavy, 
but easy, light, and good. He adopted so much of the 



JESUS' PROTEST ONLY PARTIAL. 7 

ten commandments as accords with natural religion. He 
very wisely rejected all that does not teach the two great 
duties, love to God and love to man. "If thou wilt enter 
into life," said he to one who already professed to be per- 
forming this part of his duty, "keep the commandments: 
Thou shalt do no murder; thou shalt not commit adul- 
tery ; thou shalt not steal ; thou shalt not bear false wit- 
ness ; honor thy father and thy mother; and, thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself." To the lawyer also who 
asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, "Mas- 
ter, which is the great commandment in the law?" 
Jesus replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 
This is the first and great commandment. And the 
second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as 
thyself." He thus reduced the detail of the code, leaving 
in it all that he considered essential, and summing it up 
in the two general duties pertaining to God and man. It 
may be noticed in passing, that he struck out altogether 
the commandment that pertains to the Sabbath day, the 
violation of which Moses, with a bloodthirstiness peculiar 
to the early Jews, considered more of a crime against 
God than any other. In fact, he considered it the great 
crime of all others, and visited upon him who should dare 
to break it, the penalty of death. In this matter, the 
Christian Church of our day sets Moses above Christ, 
since notwithstanding the abrogation of the law by Jesus, 
his professed disciples still adhere to it, and look upon 
the breach of it as one of the most heinous sins that can 
be committed. 

The result of the enlightened protestantism of Jesus 
was his death upon the cross. He became a martyr to 
divine truth. But he left a noble legacy to his Apostles, 



8 ONE BELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and to the world, in his advocacy of the sublime teach- 
ings of natural religion. In discarding all theology and 
all dogmas, he cleared away much of the mist and fog 
that enshrouded religion, and made himself a benefactor 
to his race. But, unfortunately, his disciples were not 
only Jews, they were prejudiced in favor of Jewish 
observances. The leaven of their original faith fermented 
in their minds, and was too strongly at work to permit 
them to follow their Master in the divine simplicity of 
his early teaching. They accepted the historic and scien- 
tific record of Moses, erroneous as it was, because nothing 
in disproof had been brought to bear against it — whereas 
the Church of our day maintains its dogmas, in the face 
of scientifically established truths. The ancient religion 
was miraculous ; so also should that be which was advo- 
cated by Jesus. And therefore, by degrees, they and 
their successors engrafted a mythology upon the religion 
which Jesus advocated, having no warrant whatever, in 
the words or deeds of their Master. We cannot tell at 
what exact period after his death were concocted the 
many marvellous stories related of him, such as that of 
his supernatural birth ; of the visit of the wise men from 
the East, led to his cradle by a star; of his having been 
begotten by the Holy Ghost, and of the consequent aban- 
donment of the pretension set up as to his royal descent 
from David and Solomon; of his miracles; and of his 
resurrection on the third day after his crucifixion. It is, 
we say, difficult, and all but impossible, to discover when 
these fables were intermingled with the ordinary human 
portion of the narrative of his life and teachings. As to 
their being found in the four Gospels now held to be 
canonical, that is no warrant of their authenticity. These 
four Gospels form but a small portion of the "Gospels" 



COUNCILS ASSUME INFALLIBLE POWER. 9 

that were in possessiom of the Christians of the third and 
fourth centuries ; nor is there any absolute and satisfac- 
tory proof that they were ever written by the persons 
w r hose names they bear, and that they passed, unaltered, 
from generation to generation through the hands of honest 
custodians and faithful transcibers. Indeed it appears 
that at the Council of Laodicea, A. D. 363, there were 
two hundred varied versions of the adopted Evangelists, 
and fifty-four several Gospels, all differing essentially 
from each other, and each purporting to be a true account 
of Jesus. From these our four Gospels were selected. 
But it must be borne in mind, that the present Gospels 
are not originals, but taken from copies of the sixth cen- 
tury, which in turn were taken from some other unknown 
copies. There are no copies in existence, bearing a date 
nearer than five hundred years to the time of Jesus. 

And this question of the origin and authenticity of the 
Scriptures appears to have been a grave matter of doubt 
in the Christian Church. Nearly twelve hundred years 
after the meeting of the Council at Laodicea, that is 
A. D. 1545, another Council assembled at Trent and 
decided and ordered what was and what was not genuine. 
It is not pretended, we believe, that the prelates who 
composed this Council were themselves inspired by the 
Holy Ghost. Nevertheless, being fallible men, they dealt 
in summary fashion with spiritual affairs, and declared 
that their own infallibility was beyond doubt. The first 
named conclave having made its selection of the four 
Gospels, this one picked out a special version of the 
Bible, termed the Vulgate, and pronounced it the only 
true one; made the Apocrypha an integral part of it; 
proclaimed that the Church alone was at liberty to inter- 
pret whatever might be doubtful; and added the extraor- 



10 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

dinary edict, that tradition was to be, equally with the 
Bible, a rule of faith. Under this rule was comprised 
that incomprehensible and much-disputed doctrine of the 
Trinity, which is now held to be essential to man's sal- 
vation, although no warrant for it can be found in the 
Christian's text book, the Bible. Its reception as an 
indispensable part of the creed had been disputed with 
the acrimony that distinguishes all combatants for faith 
of man's invention, as the records of other famous eccle- 
siastical Councils show — notably that of Nice, A. D. 325. 
Its worth, however, and its binding character, ought not 
to be much enhanced, even in the view of Christians 
themselves, by remembrance of the fact, that at least 
three centuries elapsed after Jesus' death, before the 
Trinity obtained a hold upon the worshippers of his 
name. But Councils were omnipotent — as witness the 
second one at Nice, A. D. 787, that declared the worship 
of images and of the cross to be sanctioned by the Holy 
Scriptures. 

These astounding assumptions of irresponsible and in- 
fallible power, by men pretending to deal with divine 
things, would be deemed impious and disgusting, if time 
and habit and the artful management of the priesthood 
had not tended to make men impervious to historical 
truth and logical argument. We ask then with reference 
to the Scriptures, whether, if a similar claim of divine 
origin and unquestionable authenticity were put forward 
on behalf of the sacred books of any other sect which 
Christians agree in condemning they would be accepted 
as aught else than fiction. Take, for example, Mat- 
thew's story of the great convulsion of nature at the 
crucifixion, when the earth is said to have been shaken 
and many bodies of the Saints to have risen from their 



MASSACEE OF THE INNOCENTS. 11 

graves and appeared unto many. Such a story could 
scarcely have been told in the hearing of any one 
whether Jew or Roman, who had been a contemporary 
of Jesus; and it has no place in Roman or Jewish his- 
tory. Again, as to the slaughter of all the male infants 
of Judea, in order that the youthful Christ might be 
destroyed, commonly called the Massacre of the Inno- 
cents, what corroborative evidence have we of any such 
act of atrocity having been committed by Herod? If 
Herod was chargeable with such an act of barbarity, it 
cannot be doubted that Josephus would have made some 
mention of it. But his very silence is the best evidence 
we could have to the contrary. He fills thirty-seven 
chapters with the history of. Herod, and has treated 
minutely of all the principal cruelties for which he is 
responsible; but of this special massacre he makes no 
mention. Philo, also, who lived at the time, and the 
Rabbins who were assiduous to blacken Herod's memory, 
give not the slightest hint of so monstrous a decree. 
Indeed we find that the three Evangelists, Mark, Luke, 
and John, agree with the historians of those times, in 
their total silence on this subject. It is, however, a 
curious and most noteworthy coincidence, that in the 
sacred writings of the Hindoos there is a similar story 
related of the tyrant Kanga, in connection with the birth 
of the Hindoo god, Crishna. Sir William Jones bears 
testimony to the remarkable similarity that exists between 
Crishna's life and actions and the life and actions of Jesus, 
declaring expressly that it is impossible to deny it. He 
says that Crishna's name and the general traditions con- 
cerning him were extant long anterior to the birth of 
Jesus, and probably anterior also to the time of Homer. 
The celebrated poem JBhagavat, which contains an 



12 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

account of Crishna's life, is filled with a narrative of the 
most extraordinary kind. The incarnate Deity was 
cradled among herdsmen or shepherds. A tyrant, at the 
time of his birth, ordered all new-born males to be slain; 
and yet this new-born babe was preserved in the most 
wonderful manner. He performed amazing miracles in 
his infancy, and at the age of seven years held up a 
mountain on the tip of his finger; he saved multitudes by 
his miraculous powers; and he raised the dead. But he 
was the meekest and mildest of created beings; he washed 
the feet of the Brahmins, and preached very nobly and 
sublimely. He was pure, and chaste, and benevolent, 
and tender. 

Again, to show how prone the popular imagination of 
the ancients was to fictions of this kind, we borrow some 
illustrations from the pages of Strauss. He points out 
that the life of a child destined for great objects, who is 
endangered and miraculously preserved, is one of the 
fundamental themes of all heroic legends, and found re- 
curring in those of the Hebrews, the Persians, and the 
Romans. To say nothing of the dangers which threat- 
ened the life of Zeus, or of Hercules, and of the mode in 
which they were averted, something similar occurs in the 
histories of the infancy of Moses, in the Pentateuch — of 
Isaac, in a later Jewish legend — of Cyrus, in Herodotus — 
of Romulus, in Livy — of the childhood of the first 
Roman Emperor, according to Suetonius, himself living 
in the century that saw the birth and death of Jesus — 
and then in that of the Christian Messiah, in the Gospel 
of Matthew. The idea is carried out in all these in- 
stances in a manner so similar, that it is impossible to 
doubt the influence of one legend upon the other, or to 
overlook the common psychological source of all. This 



PSYCHOLOGICAL SOURCE OF THESE LEGENDS. 13 

source is that peculiar propensity, which leads men to 
make the value of a good or great man the more sensibly 
felt, by setting forth on one side the near approach of his 
possible loss, and on the other the care of Providence for 
his preservation. The combined influence of the two — 
that is to say, the inherent desire to enhance the value of 
what was esteemed, and the multiplicity of the examples 
around — may well account for these fables of imminent 
danger and supernatural protection, as introduced into the 
life of Jesus. 

In the record of the infancy of Jesus, the mode in 
which the danger is brought about is also peculiar. The 
cause of it is a Star, which appears in Heaven and 
guides certain Eastern Magi to Jerusalem, where their 
enquiries after the new born King of the Jews attract 
the attention of Herod the Great. Thus the Star appears 
as the means of the endangerment of Jesus' life. Still, 
this portion of the legend had an object of its own. 
There is a belief reaching from remote antiquity even to 
our own times, that new appearances of stars, particu- 
larly comets, coming unexpectedly and vanishing again, 
prognosticate revolutions in human affairs, and the birth 
and death of great men. Men start from the supposition, 
that so striking a phenomenon in the Heavens must 
have, corresponding to it, a similar one on earth, affect- 
ing mankind. Thus, when an historical event happens, 
which it is wished particularly to distinguish, some extra- 
ordinary natural phenomenon, that never took place, is 
invented to chime in with it. Thus we read in Rubeni, 
a rabbinical author, that at the moment of Abraham's 
birth, a star stood in the East, which swallowed up four 
other stars, each appearing in one of the four quarters of 
the Heavens. Justin also tells another of these fictitious 



14 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

tales about Mithridates, to the effect that in the year in 
which he was born, and in that of his accession, a comet 
appeared, and continued visible on each occasion for four 
hours during every day, and for seventy successive days. 
It was of so large a size, and so bright, that it occupied a 
quarter of the sky, and outshone the brightness of the 
sun. Before the birth of Augustus, it was said to have 
been prognosticated at Rome, by a prodigy, that Nature 
was pregnant of a King for the Roman people. Accord- 
ing to Jewish writings, the account of the peril which 
threatened the life of the Lawgiver, had its parallel also 
in the history of the Patriarch of the nation. In this 
case Pharoah is Nimrod. In one account, Nimrod sees a 
star in a dream; this star, according to the other account, 
actually appears in the sky, and his sages explain it to 
him to mean that a son is at that moment born to Tha- 
rah, from whom shall come a mighty nation destined to 
inherit the present and the future world. Observe also 
that when, at length, the same embellishment had been 
introduced into the history of the infancy of Jesus, it was 
introduced into the history of the infancy of John the 
Baptist, who, having been endangered by the massacre 
at Bethlehem, was also said to have been preserved by a 
miracle. 

Now, in the legends of Cyrus, Romulus and Abraham, 
the tyrants give special orders for murdering only the 
children who are pointed out as dangerous to them. The 
narratives concerning Moses, Augustus, and Jesus, resem- 
ble each other in this — that the potentates seek to catch 
the destined infant, who is unknown to them personally, 
in a wide net, together with others. The story, then, in 
relation to the wholesale massacre by Herod, is totally 
unworthy of credence or historical consideration, as before 



INCREDIBLE STATEMENTS OF OLD TESTAMENT. 15 

remarked. Neither will it stand the test of criticism, 
when considered in relation to the justice and omniscience 
of the Almighty : for if God specially interposed to blind 
the mind of Herod by suggesting to the Magi that they 
should not return to Jerusalem to notify him of the cir- 
cumstances, why did He not inspire them to proceed, in 
the first instance, direct to Bethlehem ? Herod would 
thus have been in ignorance of the child's existence, and 
this cruel and unnecessary massacre would have been 
entirely avoided — that is, if it ever occurred. 

The date, when these fables were introduced into the 
New Testament, is not of much importance, even if it 
were possible to discover it. We know, however, that 
the early Christians not only accepted the mythology of 
Moses, but that they superadded a mythology of their 
own, of which these extraordinary stories form a part, 
and that the result of the union was a system of theology 
or belief, in which the teachings of Moses and the 
Apostles and Jesus were blended, and for upwards of four- 
teen hundred years — not improperly called the " Dark 
Ages," — were taught and accepted as a part and parcel 
of Christianity. No one, during these dark ages, was 
allowed to separate the history and the mythology from 
the doctrine. They were denied the liberty of rejecting 
the one and accepting the other, under the severest pen- 
alties in this world, and the threat of eternal damnation 
in the next. He who accepted the doctrines of Christi- 
anity was compelled also to accept, or pretend so to do, 
the most senseless fables and theories that were presented 
to him, or be anathematized. He was required to believe 
the most incredible statements ; among them, that this 
earth, together with the planetary system of which it is 
a member, was created only about four thousand years 



16 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

before the birth of Jesus. Even as late as toward the 
end of the fifteenth century Columbus, the discoverer of 
this continent, was excommunicated and branded as a 
heretic, by one of the boasted successors of St. Peter, for 
advancing the theory that the earth is spherical, in oppo- 
sition to the idea that it is a mere extended plane. 

It was also incumbent that he should believe a thou- 
sand other absurdities ; that the Sun revolved round the 
Earth; that God dwells in a local habitation, a place 
called Heaven, and the Devil in a place called Hell ; that 
God made a man and a woman, and placed them in a 
garden, intending that they and their progeny should live 
forever in this world — happy, innocent, naked, and hav- 
ing nothing to do ; that in this purpose, however, God was 
thwarted by Satan, or the Devil, who, in the form of a 
serpent, persuaded the woman to eat of the fruit of a tree 
called the Tree of Knowledge, of which God had forbidden 
them to eat, under penalty of death ; that they did eat, 
and that they fell from their state of innocence, happiness 
and nudity ; that God, offended at their disobedience, 
drove them out of the garden, imposed labor upon them as 
a curse, and taught them the use of clothes ; that the first 
two men, born of this original pair, quarrelled because 
God was better pleased to accept a sacrifice of fat cattle 
roasted with fire upon an altar, from Abel, than a blood- 
less offering of herbs and fruits from Cain, and that Cain, 
therefore, slew his brother in a fit of anger ; that the race 
of men, born of Adam and Eve, becoming utterly cor- 
rupt and wicked, God repented that he had made such 
ungrateful and abominable creatures, and resolved to 
drown the whole race of men, as well as the beasts of the 
field and the fowls of the air, which had not offended 
Him ; that He spared but one man and his family saved 



INCREDIBLE STATEMENTS OF OLD TESTAMENT. 17 

in an ark, together with a single pair of all created ani- 
mals and birds; that the progeny of ' these miraculously 
preserved men and women afterwards divided the earth 
among themselves, but were in no degree better than the 
progeny of Adam and Eve, and continually vexed the 
Almighty, and stirred Him to fierce wrath by their fear- 
ful wickedness; that a man named Nimrod, a great king 
and hunter, conceived the idea that Heaven, the abode of 
God was just above or in the clouds, and not more diffi- 
cult of access than the tops of the highest mountains, and 
that he could build a tower to reach to God's throne ; 
that God, apprehensive that he might succeed in the 
attempt, defeated his sacrilegious purpose by confounding 
the language of the men who wrought upon it, so that 
they could not understand each other, and had to desist 
from their labors — whereas all that was necessary to be 
done was to leave Nimrod and the ignorant work-people 
alone, until their means and patience were exhausted; 
that God chose the Jews for his peculiar people out of 
His mere grace and favor, and for no good that they had 
ever done ; but that Moses never could make the Jews 
understand who God was, or in what respect He was 
wiser than, or superior to, the pretended gods of neigh- 
boring nations ; that this people was enslaved by the 
Egyptians, remained in slavery for several hundred years, 
and were miraculously freed from bondage after God had 
caused the death of all the first born male children of 
Egypt, and afflicted the land and the people with innu- 
merable plagues — not on account of the sins of the Egyp- 
tians, but solely on account of the stubbornness of Pha- 
raoh, their king, who as often as he relented had his 
heart hardened by God, Himself, in order that he might 
be further plagued and punished ; that the Jews, when 
2 



18 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

they had established themselves in Canaan, by the mas- 
sacre of the original possessors of the land, grew weary 
of a priestly government, and demanded to have a king, 
like their neighbors ; that God endeavored, but in vain, 
to dissuade them from their purpose, and, yielding at last 
to their importunity, chose a king for them in the person 
of Saul, for no other recorded reason, than that he was 
taller, by the head and shoulders, than any of his people ; 
that Saul reigned indifferently well over the Jews, but 
offended God past all hope of forgiveness, because he was 
more merciful than his Maker, and would not, after he 
had conquered and overthrown his enemies in fair bat- 
tle, rip up the bellies of women with child, put all the 
children, male and female, to the sword, and destroy all 
their horses, oxen, sheep, and other cattle ; that Joshua 
made the sun to stand still at his bidding — an event 
which, if it could have occurred, would have reduced the 
solar system to chaos. All these and many other stories, 
which it is needless to recapitulate — evidently mythologi- 
cal, and many of them allegorical — Christianity now, as 
then, requires to be literally accepted as positively and 
divinely true, under penalty of all the plethora of curses, 
temporal and eternal, that angry priestcraft can pro- 
nounce. 

And the mythology of the New Testament is imposed 
as ruthlessly upon the believer as that of the Old. 
Indeed the former was engrafted upon the latter; and 
both must be accepted, without question or hesitation, as 
equally true. As man had fallen under Adam, he was 
to be lifted up under Jesus ; but as God required a sacri- 
fice before He could forgive the human race for the trans- 
gression of Adam and Eve, Jesus — being himself God — 
offered himself a sacrifice to his Father, who was also 



THE SAME CLAIMED FOR GODAMA. 19 

God — though there was but one God — and the sacrifice 
was accepted. As an evidence of this, it is asserted that 
when he died upon the cross all nature was convulsed by 
the event ; the earth upheaved, and the dead rose out of 
their graves and walked through the streets, in sight of 
the awe-stricken multitudes. This was a marvel and a 
mystery, which no human being could understand ; but it 
was to be received as a dogma and an article of faith — 
without believing in which, no one could enjoy the benefit 
of the transcendent sacrifice, or live in the next world, 
except in fire and brimstone and eternal torment. For 
the purpose of teaching the new theology and of perform- 
ing this sacrifice, God, in the person of the man Jesus, 
came into the world and wrought many miracles to con- 
vince the people of the divinity alike of his character and 
mission. But so also was it claimed by and for Godama, 
who founded the theological system which now prevails 
in the Burmese Empire. "I, a God," said he, "having 
departed out of this world will preserve my laws and my 
disciples in it for the space of five thousand years." 
Again, the people of Judea believed that the diseases of 
the human body were to a great extent due to the agency 
of devils — the number of the devils being infinite — and 
that they entered corporeally into the blood, the bones, 
the brain, and the intestines, of epileptics, cataleptics, 
apoplectics, lepers, lunatics, maniacs, and other unhappy 
persons afflicted with bodily • or mental disorders. As 
Jesus was represented in the new mythology as casting 
out devils by an effort of his volition, and sometimes as 
speaking to them while in the bodies of tormented per- 
sons, and ordering them to come out, the Christians of 
the Dark Ages were of necessity taught to believe that 
such devils really existed, and that diseases were the 



20 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

results of their agency, rather than of natural or heredi- 
tary causes, or of the contravention of the laws of health 
by the afflicted persons themselves. The early Christians 
were also taught to believe that the arch-devil — the lord 
and king of all these minor devils, the Satan and Beelze- 
bub of the Jews, the Ahrimanes of the Persians, the Luci- 
fer of the poets — ignorant of the fact that Jesus was God, 
and believing that he was only an able and ambitious 
man, took him up into a high mountain and showed him 
all the kingdoms of the world — which he could not have 
done from the top of any mountain, however lofty — and 
promised him dominion over them, on the sole condition 
that he, who was God, should kneel down and wor- 
ship him, who was Devil ; that Jesus, without making 
himself known to him, refused the offer, saying, "Get 
thee behind me Satan, thou art an offense unto me." 
Moreover, they were required to believe that Jesus raised 
the dead from the grave ; walked upon the waters of the 
sea; stilled the raging of the tempest, by a motion of his 
hand or word of his mouth ; fed thousands of people, once 
with five, and once with seven loaves of bread and a few 
small fishes — the unconsumed remnants of both, after 
the multitude had freely partaken, being immensely 
greater than the original bulk of the articles provided; 
and that he performed other miracles, all of which were 
of a beneficent, but more or less startling character, 
according to the circumstances. But the most remarka- 
ble thing is that, notwithstanding he is said to have per- 
formed such wonderful things as we have enumerated, he 
never succeeded in persuading either the Romans or the 
Jewish people, or the many thousands who witnessed 
them, or even his own immediate followers and disciples, 
that his mission was to introduce a new and spiritual reli- 



THE DIVINITY OF JESUS NOT BELIEVED. 21 

gion, or that he was indeed God, or the son of God, in 
any other sense than that in which all men are God's 
children. This is a most significant fact; and a fact it 
must be acknowledged by the Christian Church, inasmuch 
as it is borne out by the Scriptures themselves. The 
indifference of the Romans is shown in Pilate's washing 
his hands of Christ's blood, and in the temperate dealings 
of Festus and Agrippa with Paul. How Christ impressed 
the leading Jews is proved by the manner in which they 
persecuted him and put him to death. What the multi- 
tudes thought of him may be gathered from the reiterated 
testimony of the Evangelists, to the effect that the people 
"understood not his sayings," that they "marvelled 
greatly," that they were "astonished at his doctrine," 
that they were "very attentive to hear him," and that 
the fullest extent of their conviction went no farther than 
this: "they rejoiced at all the glorious things that were 
done by him." It is nowhere recorded that they looked 
upon him as the veritable son of God, co-equal with God, 
and voluntarily sacrificing himself as an expiation for 
Adam's original sin — nor did he claim this himself. As 
to the immediate contemporaries, followers, and intimate 
attendants upon Christ, it is only needful to remind the 
reader of what happened, when all his personal influence 
and all the effect of his whole career culminated, in his 
final interview with the eleven disciples, after his resur- 
rection. St. Mark says, that he upbraided them for their 
unbelief and hardness of heart. Yet St. Matthew says, 
with a candor that is absolutely killing — in reference also 
to Jesus' last intercourse with those favored individuals — 
"but some doubted!" The disciples, therefore, in the 
presence of their risen Master, were very far from exhib- 
iting an implicit and unreserved faith, at the moment of 



22 ONE RELIGION : MANY 'CREEDS. 

all others when they should have experienced it to the 
innermost core. What, we ask, has the Church done, to 
make belief in all these stories acceptable to us in these 
days, when we find them less and less able to bear the 
test of calm and critical examination? 

It was only after Christ's death that Christianity, 
under a new phase, began to develop itself and to dis- 
possess the previously existing paganism of the Roman 
Empire. Then it was that the Priests and the Popes, 
who had charge of the new doctrine, arrogated to them- 
selves and to their " Saints," both living and dead, the 
miraculous and supernatural powers which they at first 
claimed only for their divine Master. A new series of 
wonders was invented suitable for the credulous and 
ignorant multitudes. These found ready credence in an 
age when Kings and Emperors could not even read or 
write ; indeed, when there were no books, and but very 
few accessible manuscripts ; and when the mass of man- 
kind were sunk in the deepest mental darkness — impene- 
trable even to such rays of light as gleamed and flashed 
from the lustrous learning and eloquence of the Greek 
and Roman philosophers. Knowledge was trodden down 
by the furious wars that followed the fall of the Roman 
Empire. What little remained of it the priests pos- 
sessed, and used — as priests invariably do — to enslave 
the intellect of the people. And thus, in process of time, 
a third mythology was superadded to the mythology of 
the Pentateuch and the Four Gospels, fully as marvellous 
and as contrary to the laws of Nature and to all human 
experience, as its predecessors. In this mythology, 
Mary, — "the Mother of God" — is raised to the divine 
rank of Queen of Heaven, and plays a most conspicuous 
part in the Church which bears the name of her Son. In 



MYTHOLOGY OF THE VIRGIN MARY. 23 

fact, it is said that she enacts wonders more wonderful 
than any attributed to him. She condescends to enter 
into images and statues carved in her honor ; and, as an 
incontrovertible evidence of her presence therein, she 
makes them wink their eyes, and shed real tears over 
the agonies of those penitents who supplicate her mercy 
and her mediation with her blessed Son. Her pictures, 
too, worked miraculous cures on the deaf, the dumb, and 
the blind, provided they were touched in a properly 
reverential and confiding spirit. She appears visibly to 
the eyes of men and women, and promises her interces- 
sion with her Son in Heaven, for the forgiveness of all 
who truly believe in herself and in him. Nor this alone ; 
the relics of real or supposed saints and martyrs are also 
endowed with virtue to heal diseases. Nay, even pieces 
of the wood of the cross on which Jesus had suffered — 
that was supposed to have been discovered in a heap of 
ancient and indistinguishable rubbish in the Golgotha of 
Jerusalem, through the pious agencies of the Empress 
Helena, more than three hundred years after the cruci- 
fixion — were also endowed with similar powers and attri- 
butes of divinity. Mr. Charles Mackay, in his Memoirs 
of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, says that it is 
among "the traditions of the Romish Church that the 
Empress Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, 
first discovered the veritable 'true Cross/ in her pil- 
grimage to Jerusalem. The Emperor Theodosius made a 
present of the greater part of it to St. Ambrose, Bishop 
of Milan, by whom it was studded with precious stones, 
and deposited in the principal church of that city. It 
was carried away by the Huns, by whom it was burnt 
after they had extracted the valuable jewels it contained. 
Fragments purporting to have been cut from it were, in 



24 ONE RELIGION; MANY CREEDS. 

the eleventh and twelfth centuries, to be found in almost 
every church in Europe, and would, if collected together in 
one place, have been almost sufficient to have built a 
cathedral. Happy was the sinner who could get a sight 
of one of them ; happier he who possessed one. To obtain 
them, the greatest dangers were cheerfully braved. They 
were thought to preserve from all evils, and to cure the 
most inveterate diseases. Annual pilgrimages were made 
to the shrines that contained them, and considerable rev- 
enues were collected from the devotees." Tears of Jesus, 
of the Virgin Mary, of John the beloved disciple, and 
even of Peter, who denied his Master when he fell into 
trouble and suspicion, were also discovered in Judea, 
where they had been divinely and miraculously preserved 
for centuries, and brought to Europe at the time of the 
Crusades. They were kept in churches and cathedrals — 
to be exhibited on great occasions, and when there was 
any chance of making money by the exhibition or sale 
of them to the faithful. For, be it observed, the laws of 
evaporation and absorption must, ever since they were 
shed, have been miraculously suspended. These tears 
work supernatural cures, too, when enshrined in little 
glass beads and worn on the bosom, or even if the beads 
that contain them are held in the hand or pressed to the 
lips of the devout Christian. But to continue. The 
nails with which the hands and feet of Jesus were pierced 
to fasten him on the cross, and even the thorns of the 
crown with which he was mockingly arrayed by his per- 
secutors, found their way to Europe in large quantities. 
It has been alleged by historians that there was iron 
enough in all these nails, if collected and thrown into the 
furnace, to have made a thousand ploughshares. And 
yet each nail was supposed to be divinely endowed with 



INFLUENCE OF THE PRINTING PRESS. 25 

the power of working miracles, to prove the truth of the 
Christian doctrine ! 

But while this new mythology was growing and 
expanding and exercising its pernicious sway over the 
intellect of men — and especially of women, who are 
always the greatest upholders of the churches, in all parts 
of the world and in all ages — the printing press came 
into operation. By its influence in stimulating men to 
increased mental and physical activity, and facilitating the 
operation of many minds one upon another for the good 
of the whole, it aimed a heavy blow at superstition and 
priestcraft. From that era and from that invention went 
forth an impetus in the affairs of mankind, a rapidity of 
advancement in the arts, sciences, and civilization, unpre- 
cedented in the history of the world, ensuring a far more 
splendid inheritance to those who come after us, than that 
to which we have ourselves succeeded. One of its first 
results was the multiplication of copies of the Old and 
New Testaments, which were translated into the English, 
German, French, and other European languages, and 
placed for the first time in the hands of other people than 
the clergy. A second result was the growth of a convic- 
tion that the new mythology of the Romish priesthood, 
that had grown up in the Dark Ages, was an excrescence 
upon Christianity, formed no part of its spirit or teaching, 
and was not to be believed or accepted as truth. Many 
men came to the conclusion that the first two mytholo- 
gies — those of Moses and the Gospels — were quite suffi- 
cient for belief, and were to be accepted on account of their 
venerable antiquity. They rejected the Third mythology, 
and made up their minds that its miracles — performed by 
winking Virgins, pieces of the True Cross, and toe-nails 
of the Saints, were no miracles at all, but cheats, shams, 



26 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and impostures, only invented to prop up an ecclesiastical 
system which had degenerated into a trade — to impose 
and prey upon the less gifted and cultivated — and to per- 
petuate the physical power and intellectual domination of 
the priesthood. The prevalence of free thought increased 
in an advancing ratio; and about this time, what is termed 
the Reformation took place. The protest on this occasion 
was strong as far as it went ; but it was partial and incom- 
plete. It protested again the truth of the modern, — not 
of the ancient miracles ; against the Pope — not against 
the historical and scientific falsehoods and errors, inherited 
by him and his predecessors from the original Christians, 
or by the original Christians from the so-called sacred 
Books ascribed to Moses and the Evangelists. The Pro- 
testantism of that dawning day protested against all doc- 
trine but that contained in the Book, and built up a new 
idol, a new divinity, a new God, in the shape of the Bible, 
which they set on high in the face of men, to be wor- 
shipped by all who would escape eternal perdition. It 
rejected one-third of a false system, and took the other 
two-thirds to its heart, and enshrined them there as infal- 
lible, unerring, perpetual, and divine. Yet this partial 
protest was of inestimable value to future generations. It 
was the thin end of the wedge introduced into the hard 
block of superstition. He who protests a little to-day 
may protest a great deal to-morrow. The very fact of 
a protest amounts to a declaration of independence in 
thought ; and Protestantism — as soon as it had begun to 
protest — deprived itself of the power of saying to any 
clearer-sighted, better informed, and more courageous pro- 
testant than itself: " Thus far shalt thou protest, and no 
farther I" This was a mighty advantage ; and the Romish 
Church, with the keen instinct of self-preservation, felt 



PROGRESS OF THE SCIENCES. 27 

and knew it to be so, and waged war to the death against 
the bold, democratic, and innovating movement that 
threatened to hurl it from its throne. 

The disciples of the reformed faith, as cheerfully as the 
earlier Christians of the days of St. Paul and St. Peter, 
went to the block and the stake, to seal with blood their 
belief in the conscientious protest which they had made. 
Meanwhile the great printing press was busily at work. 
Every succeeding year gave it new power for good and an 
increased momentum in well-doing. The priests were no 
longer the sole depositories of learning. The outer world 
penetrated into all the pretended holy mysteries of the 
clergy. The intellect of mankind was liberated ; and no 
longer confining itself to questions of Theology, as in the 
Dark Ages, grappled bravely with Mechanics, Physics, 
Optics, Astronomy, Chemistry — all the Arts and Sciences 
— and became, under this active exercise, too vigorous 
and penetrating to be longer held under the domination of 
priestcraft. The cheat was detected ; spurious teaching 
and' doctrines began to be thrown overboard as useless 
lumber, or clogs to that true religion which is founded on 
the real Bible, or Book of God, the true revelation of the 
Creator, to be read in His works, terrestrial and celestial, 
and in His impress upon man — and not in the writings of 
ignorant and erring, though possibly well-meaning, men. 
The law of Gravitation suspected by Dante, and Shakes- 
peare, and perhaps others, but only reduced to a formula 
and a proof positive by Newton — the earlier invention of 
the Telescope, and the later invention of the Microscope — 
the discovery of the eternal and sublime forces sometimes 
called Galvanism, Magnetism, and Electricity — all these 
things worked together for the exposition to mankind of a 
thousand unsuspected truths of the divine government of 



28 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

the world, whereof the theologies and mythologies had 
never dreamed. All of these were consistent with each 
other, but inconsistent with the truth of the theologies 
and mythologies, however seemingly sacred in the esti- 
mation of mankind the latter might be. 

These discoveries, these teachings, these expositions, 
these promulgations, continued during the seventeenth, 
eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, without producing 
any very obvious effect upon the mythological Chris- 
tianity, based upon the fables of the Old and New Testa- 
ments. The mass of professing Protestants accepted the 
new facts, but gave themselves no trouble to reconcile 
them with the old traditions. Nevertheless, the spirit of 
enquiry which was so busily at work had, and could not 
but have, its effect upon the intellect of the generations 
that were growing up in the light of these discoveries; 
and a spirit of what is called "Infidelity" pervaded the 
upper and educated classes. Infidelity is an easy word. 
To the Mahommedans, all Christians are infidels. To 
Christians, all Mahommedans, Jews, Buddhists, Parsees, 
and believers in Mumbo Jumbo, are equally "infidels." 
Infidelity is no reproach. The various theologies, inter- 
mingled with what is true in worship, in different quar- 
ters of the world, are the creatures of circumstance, rather 
than of pure, unmitigated, and conscientious belief. If 
Martin Luther had been born in China or Japan, he Avould 
not have been a champion of Protestant Christianity. If 
Mahommed had been born in Scandinavia where Odin was 
worshipped, he might have established a new and peculiar 
theology; but it would not have been such a one as 
that which now goes under his name. In this sense, the 
stigma of "Infidelity," affixed by one class who £hink for 
themselves in religious matters, upon others who think 



INFIDELITY NO REPROACH. 29 

with quite as much if not more learning and earnestness 
to back them, is but an idle word. It is more despicable 
than an idle word, when applied to those who worship 
God after the dictates of their own hearts and consciences, 
believing that love to God and good works constitute 
the whole duty of man. The Church may vent its ana- 
themas ever so vehemently, now as heretofore; yet let it 
not close its eyes to the fact, that this religion has so 
deep a root in men's natures, that it will ere long dis- 
perse the cloud of theology with which the Church has 
endeavored to overshadow it. In fact it has already done 
so to a much larger extent than appears on the surface, 
among the learned, scientific, thinking, and reasoning 
men of our country. Nor will it long be confined to the 
learned and scientific; while, as for the thinking and 
reasoning classes — with the avenues of knowledge now 
opening to them, they will soon become the majority, and 
will then not hesitate to declare themselves openly in 
favor of the first and only religion. 

Indeed its influence has spread even to the clergy 
themselves. Even their minds, usurped as they are in 
most instances by the prejudices of education and the 
emoluments of their 'profession, are very much expanded 
by the developments of scientific investigation, acting 
upon and co-operating with their own innate conscious- 
ness of truth. The effect is, that while they do not 
preach with the enthusiasm of olden times on such sub- 
jects as eternal punishment, the personality, power, and 
influence of the devil, man's total degeneracy, the ven- 
geance of the Almighty, and so forth — those of them, 
who do not drawl out their common-place sermons as if 
they neither themselves believed them nor intended others 
to believe them, are a little more rational in their course. 



30 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

If they are not bold enough to enunciate principles 
directly in accordance with natural truths, they tread 
lightly on the subject, and confine themselves to such 
themes as will enable them to make a compromise with 
scientific developments. The reign of terror, which the 
pulpit once exercised, has departed — Ichabod is written 
upon it. It has a rival in the press, which now occupies 
the intellectual throne, and has things to say, whereto 
the pulpit must succumb. And whenever the two come 
in conflict, it is not the pulpit that is finally appealed 
to, as it once was. It is the judgment of public opinion 
through this potent medium, the press, that obtains the 
mastery. 

Internal dissensions, too, are vastly weakening to the 
cause of dogmatic Christianity. Sects are everywhere 
multiplied, and are multiplying; but theology is neither 
strengthened nor increased thereby. In fact, it loses 
ground every time there is a split made in it. This is 
as though another blow were struck upon the wedge in- 
troduced into the block of error. It is an addition to the 
force that is destined to rive theology asunder and beat 
it into fragments, so that it may be ground into powder 
and scattered to the four winds. It is its own destruc- 
tion — not the destruction merely of one of its parts, 
because every sect, however much it may differ from or 
denounce its rival, derives its authority from Moses or the 
Gospels. Even Mormonism, the last gasping effort of 
modern civilization to establish a religion upon the Bible, 
finds a sufficient justification for polygamy in the practice 
of Abraham and the Jewish patriarchs, who — therein 
declared to be not only the true servants of God, but 
most favored by Him — are the very men that most in- 
dulged in it. The great majority of those, who accept 



THE CHRISTIAN HEAVEN. 31 

Christianity, consists of the poor. They go to church 
and hear it announced that it is to them that the Gospel 
is preached, and that it is easier for a camel to go through 
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into 
the kingdom of Heaven. They are told that Heaven is 
a place where the poor of this world are recompensed for 
their poverty and misery — a place wherein they them- 
selves will be rich and powerful, wherein they will wear 
white robes and golden crowns, and whence they will be 
graciously permitted to look down with the greatest com- 
placency — not altogether unmixed with human or even 
with inhuman satisfaction — upon the misery of those 
Dives* in Hell, who did not give them all they had in this 
world, now in vain asking them for a drop of water to 
cool their burning tongues. Of this class we say the 
Church is largely made up, because of the encouragement 
and consolation they derive or imagine they derive from 
the above description of teaching. Others go to church 
for fashion's sake, recreation, excitement, and novelty — 
in short, more to see than to hear, and to be amused by 
the priest flaunting before their eyes his embroidered 
garments, the frippery of stole and vestment, and all 
the paraphernalia of ecclesiastical millinery. In Roman 
Catholic countries the churches are left almost wholly to 
the women; in Protestant countries a majority of men 
still attend, but mostly as a duty enforced by custom and 
fashion, or with the hope of being entertained if the 
preacher be what is called a popular one. If not, and 
they think it adds to their respectability, they go and 
listen with what insomnolency they can to an uninterest- 
ing discourse, which tells them nothing they did not 
know before, and too much that flatly contradicts the 
pure truths of science and common-sense facts. But this 






32 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

state of things must soon fall into decay. Indeed we 
find that even those, who are in high places and receiving 
large emoluments from the ecclesiastical system to which 
they are attached, are dropping off, one by one, from the 
decaying old tree that has supplied them with shelter and 
support, and are coming out boldly in defence of the 
right. Their reason becomes too strong for that dead 
faith which was instilled into them, and which they have 
been trying to instil into others, untill their better sense 
and better judgment, aided by other minds and genuine 
truths, have compelled them to abandon it. 

In the first place, they have removed out of the way 
that greatest of all stumbling blocks, "The Pentateuch," 
which, when tested by the truths of geological discovery, 
is shown to be a mass of crude absurdities. 

And now, in the next place, not only is the rest of the 
Old Testament to be submitted to the same and similar 
tests, but the New Testament also must submit to go 
through the crucible of investigation, and stand or fall by 
the ordeal. Everywhere there is fermentation of thought. 
Science, we admit, has not yet overthrown theology and 
mythology vi et armis, by battering at their ancient 
walls ; but she has been and is still — quietly and slowly, 
yet perceptibly — sapping and mining them to the very 
foundation. She is proving her own truths, as well as 
that great and divine principle, that no one truth, great 
or small, can ever be hostile to, contradict, or disprove 
another. She is showing, by an examination of every- 
thing in Nature, that God is infinite in goodness, infinite 
in wisdom, and infinite in truth. That He cannot be 
what the Pentateuch proclaims him to be — a God who 
has fits of anger, who errs and repents of it, who can be 
at one time what he is not at another. Geology has 



SCIENCE UNDERMINING THEOLOGY. 33 

demonstrated that the earth must be more than six 
thousand years old. It may be six hundred thousand, or 
six hundred millions, or as much longer as the imagin- 
ation can stretch, for all that we know. But one thing 
is certain — it is proved as conclusively as by a mathe- 
matical demonstration, that there is no semblance of 
truth in the Jewish computation, that it was called into 
existence so recently as the Scriptures assert. Astronomy, 
too, has proved that, so far from the earth being the most 
important body in our solar system, it is one of the three 
least; that our solar system itself — the majestic sun and 
all the orbs that circle around him — is but a comparative 
speck in the infinite immensity of the sidereal universe ; 
and that the faint light of the great Nebula in Orion, 
seen in the summer sky, takes sixty-seven thousand 
years to travel from that remote portion of the universe 
to our little globe, and become visible to the eyes of men. 
In fact the world has come, or is fast coming, to that 
advanced state of progress, when the men, who really 
think for themselves in spiritual matters as independently 
as they compare and judge in the actual business of their 
lives, will subject all the so-called sacred books of all 
creeds to thorough examination, and relegate them to the 
same pedestals as are occupied by the Iliad and the 
Odyssey, or the early histories of ancient nations. They 
will believe all that is credible, and reject all that is 
manifestly, mathematically and positively false. To 
those — and they include many of the leading minds of 
our time — who are too timid, and to some who are not 
too timid to declare themselves, as well as to vast num- 
bers who show their new faith, or rather the rejection 
of their old faith, by the negative process of refusing to 
lend any public countenance to it, the conviction has 
3 



34 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

become too strong to be avoided, that God has revealed 
Himself to mankind only through His works as exhibited 
by the eternal world, and through the inherent intuitions, 
faculties and perceptions, placed in the soul and mind of 
each individual. He holds no one accountable for a belief 
in the written or spoken words of any man or any set of 
men. Men are to be relied upon, only so far as they 
describe the physical, moral and intellectual laws of God, 
in accordance with other natural truths. 

In view of .this advancement of the human race, and 
of the numerous discoveries of modern science, each one 
of which is consistent with the other, and with the bene- 
ficent nature and unchanging and unchangeable laws and 
purposes of the Creator — in view of the hollowness of 
the religious systems, through which endeavors have been 
made for many ages back to impose upon mankind a 
belief in stories and traditions that it is impossible to 
accept — in view of the attempted disparagement of the 
religion of nature and conscience, which these efforts have 
produced, as well as the vast amount of hypocrisy which 
they have caused amongst the multitude of ordinary men, 
who pretend to believe for fashion's sake, or to save 
themselves the trouble and inconvenience of standing out 
against any established system — in view of all this, the 
time seems to have arrived for protesting against all false 
cosmogonies, theologies, and mythologies, through which 
the designing have held more or less pernicious sway 
over the mind and means of the many for so long a 
period. As long as these attempts are permitted to 
trammel the minds and influence the conduct of men and 
debase true religion, they act as fetters upon the intellect 
and impede the progress of mankind. A Protest, to be 
in accordance with the intelligence of the day, must be 



A PROTEST AGAINST THEOLOGIES. 35 

one against the idea that death is a new comer, or that 
the inhabitants of the earth, from man downwards to the 
lowest animalcule, were not intended for death from the 
beginning. It must protest against the idea that death 
is an evil, or anything but a blessing, and a step of the 
soul in its infinite progression from good to better. Tt 
must protest against the idea that there is any evil, 
except that which is caused by man's ignorant or wilful 
breach of divine laws, inasmuch as all else which seems 
to be evil appears so only on account of our imperfect 
knowledge, and must be good in the ulterior purposes of 
a God who is all perfection. It must protest against the 
idea that labor is a curse imposed upon man in conse- 
quence of transgression, and assert, on the contrary, that 
it is a prime and chief blessing, the educator of the body, 
the elevator of the mind, the sweetener and enhancer of 
the multifarious enjoyments of life. It must protest 
against the idea inculcated in the Old Testament of the 
Jews, and thence conveyed into the New Testament of 
the Christians, that God's purpose was ever changed by 
man's transgression, or by man's intercession, or by any 
other agency whatsoever. It must protest as Christ pro- 
tested, and reject the barbarous and blood-thirsty creed of 
the Jews, and specially those portions of that creed which 
have corrupted that which Jesus taught, and which were 
introduced into it after his crucifixion by his ignorant 
disciples, and form no portion of the divine doctrine that 
God is infinite in goodness and wisdom, and that it is the 
duty of men to love God and one another. It must pro- 
test against the idea that it is any part of God's pur- 
pose — out of revenge, or from any other motive — to punish 
man in everlasting fire, or by any other torment beyond 
the grave, for the deeds done in the body, such a doctrine 



36 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

being totally inconsistent with God's goodness. It must 
protest against the idea that God, out of His mere grace 
or favor, has elected a remnant of mankind to be saved, 
to the exclusion of the majority, as being inconsistent 
with his even-handed justice. It must protest against 
the idea that man can commit any sin for which God has 
not provided adequate punishment, that is inflicted on the 
offender, not vicariously or vindictively, but to the end 
that God had in view, at the creation — and this end was 
that, under the training provided for the purpose, all men 
should, eventually, be brought to understand and do His 
will. It must protest that God is never moved to anger, 
nor can He be surprised or disappointed by anything that 
man may do, for He observes with perfect complacency 
all His works, all His creatures, and all their doings, 
knowing that by the gradual fulfilment of His original 
purposes, all things will work together in a manner 
entirely consistent therewith. It must protest against 
the idea that any man's fate is altered by the prayers of 
the Church, either before or after his decease — this being 
inconsistent with God's foreknowledge, and His ability 
to provide for all possible contingencies from the first. 
It must protest against all teaching which is contrary to 
this view. It must protest against receiving the facts 
recorded by either Moses or the Apostles, as other than 
mere statements resting upon human testimony, to be 
judged of as evidence is judged of in a court of justice, 
and to be credited only when consistent with each other, 
with Nature, with probability, and with the goodness of 
God. In fine, it must protest against everything which 
is not in accordance with the substance of these following 
propositions, derived from natural teaching, and confirmed 
by an innate consciousness of their truth : that it is no 



GOD ALL POWERFUL. 37 

part of religion to entertain an} 7- other faith or belief, 
than that there is but one God — that this one God is 
omnipotent, and that His perfections are infinite — that 
He rules all things by laws, which, like Himself, are 
unchangeable — that all men are alike amenable to His 
laws in person — and that He requires that we should 
exercise ourselves in good offices one toward another, 
and toward all sentient beings. All faiths and beliefs, 
which are inconsistent with these broad axioms, are more 
or less pernicious. And most undoubtedly all faiths and 
beliefs respecting God, which are propounded for the 
entertainment of men, and which are not consistent with 
His infinite power, knowledge, goodness, and impartial 
justice, are untrue and to be deprecated. 

God's perfections are the touchstone by which to test 
the genuineness of our faith. In working out His plans 
and designs, He needs not, nor did He contemplate, the 
assistance of any such persons as Christ and the Holy 
Ghost, who are called divine ; or of the Virgin Mary, who 
is said to be immaculate and the mother of God. There 
is no personal, nor imaginary Devil ; nor is it possible 
that there can be any. Man is as God originally created 
him, and as God originally intended and provided he 
should be, to the end that all shall in good time adore 
Him from a sense of His goodness to each and all. God's 
perfections are proof positive that the laws which He 
established for the government of all things are absolute 
and incapable of amendment, and therefore must endure 
perpetually. They can neither be changed nor made 
better. Hence, neither Jesus nor His disciples, nor any 
other creature ever had, by any special providence, the 
power either inherent or granted for the working of mira- 
cles. Any pretended occurrence or phenomenon, not in 



38 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

accordance with the ordinary course of nature, is falla- 
cious. There is much in the Bible, in relation to God 
and His attributes, which is inconsistent with His per- 
fections and therefore must be untrue; hence the- Bible 
cannot be said to be infallible. 

In speaking of the Church, we use the word, in every 
instance, in its broad sense, not as applying to any par- 
ticular denomination or sect, but to all alike who make 
any part of their doctrine or creed to consist of any one 
or more of the things here cited as being inconsistent 
with God's perfect attributes. Any one of the many 
sects may denounce the doctrines of the others, with 
whom they do not agree. We claim the same privilege, 
and shall address ourselves against any and all, who hold 
to dogmas and theologies which we conceive to be not in 
accordance with the nature, and perfections, and omnipo- 
tence of God. 

The new protest must^ avoid the short-comings and 
errors of its predecessors. It is not enough, in our day, 
to protest against that which is false in theology; it is 
essentially necessary to affirm that which is true. In 
addition to what is done spontaneously by the heart and 
conscience, it has hitherto been the office of poets, rather 
than of preachers, to "vindicate the ways of God to 
man; but science has now stepped into the arena, and 
has become a more powerful vindicator of God's good- 
ness and wisdom than either priest or poet. Science and 
theology may be antagonistic powers ; but science and 
the religion of the heart march together, side by side, and 
together they will achieve a signal victory over the errors 
and false teachings that have trammelled the minds of 
men from the earliest ages. The intelligent and un- 
shackled enquirer studies the so-called sacred books of 



THE TEACHINGS OF THE BOOK OF NATURE. 39 

the Jews and Christians, and finds what of divine truth 
there is in them so over-ridden and contradicted by, and 
so subordinated to, human dogmas — repugnant alike to 
intuitive religion, conscience, and common sense — that no 
consolation or healing for the soul, or satisfaction for the 
intellect, can be extracted therefrom. He who hungers 
and thirsts for the true bread and water of life, which 
leads man heavenward, will hunger and thirst in vain, if 
he expects to find it in the Bible or the doctrines of the 
Church. But when the truly religious man studies the 
great open volume of Nature, he discovers nothing to 
weaken or contradict ; everything in it tends to strengthen 
and confirm the great and fundamental idea — the only 
possible basis of a true and living religion — that God is 
infinite, eternal, unchangeable, and all-w T ise. Nothing 
can eradicate the impression which it makes upon us, to 
the effect that He is good and kind to all His creatures, 
and that He cannot have created man in order to make 
him miserable either here or hereafter. The diligent 
student of this sublime book — whether he gathers instruc- 
tion from the little globe of which man is the noblest 
inhabitant, or whether he seeks it with a devout and 
reverential spirit from the gorgeous host of suns and 
planetary systems that fill the remotest regions of space 
and by their number and magnitude reduce this globe of 
ours comparatively to the dimensions of a grain of sand 
on the sea shore of creation — will observe in it, through- 
out, the universality of law and the most perfect mathe- 
matical consistency. Every newly discovered truth will 
be found to be in perfect harmony with the whole. He 
will recognize as a principle and as a fact, that the laws 
of God, which are perfect and invariable now, must have 
been perfect and invariable from the first, and that in 



40 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

this world — as in the countless worlds of all the galaxies 
of space — they accomplish everlastingly the exact original 
purpose of their divine author. He will also recognize that 
God's intention in creating the universe, and placing man 
upon the earth — and, for all we know, in millions of 
other worlds even more glorious than this — cannot have 
been thwarted by any agency, mortal or immortal. It 
has been carried out from the beginning ; and it will be 
carried out in exact conformity with His will and fore- 
knowledge throughout all eternity. Every atom of mat- 
ter, and the faintest flickering of mind that ever existed, 
was made subservient to the accomplishment of a definite 
purpose, and was endowed, from the creation, with all 
the properties, qualities, forces, and faculties necessary to 
fulfil that purpose, without any further supervision. 

Among the agencies which perform important offices in 
the production of the various phenomena of Nature are 
light and darkness, heat and cold, negative and positive 
electricity, magnetism, the centripetal and centrifugal 
forces, chemical affinities and repulsions, gravitation, 
attraction, and probably other instrumentalities of which 
science has not yet discovered the secret. These agencies 
are only perceptible to man, through their action on visi- 
ble and tangible matter. It required the accumulated 
experience of centuries, and a high state of mental cul- 
ture in succeeding generations, before Philosophy could 
either discover or comprehend them even to the present 
limited extent. 

Man has never had any true conception of God or His 
attributes, except through the medium of His creation. 
By means of the phenomena presented to man through 
the material world, through the action of infinite mind 
upon inorganic matter, through life as exhibited in ani- 



LABOR, PAIN AND DEATH, NOT EVILS. 41 

inals and plants, and through the emotions and aspira- 
tions of the human soul, God has revealed Himself to 
man — and thus only. By these means, the revelation is 
abundantly sufficient to enable all men to fulfil God's 
will and purpose. By these means, to the full extent 
of their intelligence and their needs, will they be enabled 
to perform the duties that are required of them so long as 
they remain in this world; and, by analogy, it may be 
concluded that, after they have quitted it, they will be 
similarly aided, through some means not revealed to us. 
With this great and glorious revelation open before him — 
the divine instruction written on the soul of man — how 
can he fail to keep within the bounds of duty and love to 
God? 

Three words, which theologians employ in a sense at 
variance with truth, and with God's wisdom in creating 
the world, and by which the minds of men have been 
enthralled to their damage, are Labor, Pain, and Death. 
They have been represented as evils, and as forming no 
part of God's original purpose in placing man upon the 
earth. A great portion of the human race has been 
taught for thousands of years, that for man's disobedience 
to a supposed command — which God never can have 
given, with the threatened penalties for a breach of it, 
and under all the circumstances claimed by the Church — 
labor was imposed upon him as a curse ; that pain was 
introduced as a punishment instigated by God's anger ; 
and that death — no part of God's first intention — was 
made the doom of every living thing. And this ancient 
fable still exercises a pernicious influence, although men 
are gradually beginning to understand as regards labor 
and pain, that they are by no means evils, but a part of 
the economy of God's will toward man in this world. 



42 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Instead of being a curse, labor, to a legitimate extent, is 
found to be a blessing ; and this law refers not alone to 
man and the earth, but to the whole Universe. We 
admit that excess of labor is an evil ; but so, also, is 
excess in anything. It is beneficial to eat and to drink ; 
but prejudicial to eat and drink too much. It is delight- 
ful to labor ; but disagreeable to exhaust one's self in 
doing in one day the work of two or three days. It is 
labor, labor alone, that raises man to his true position. 
It is imposed upon him for no angry or revengeful pur- 
pose — if such were possible to God — but with the kindest 
intention. It was instituted to promote his happiness, in 
order that he might be induced to improve his faculties, 
physical, moral and intellectual. He is born naked; out 
of his necessities come mental and physical cultivation, 
civilization, and all the ennobling arts and graces that 
follow in its train. In the gratification of man's wants 
consist the enjoyment of life ; for, if he had no wants in 
this life, he would have no pleasures. Were he to draw 
his food out of the atmosphere by the act of breathing, 
had he no call to cultivate the earth or to labor for shelter 
or covering, he would be without that stimulant and that 
incentive to do and be doing — without that prompting to 
activity of body and spirit — which is indispensable to 
buoyancy, and health, and the giving zest to life.. Action 
is the order of nature. The air sweeps over hill and dale. 
It dallies wantonly with the foliage, and on the surface of 
the waters. It rustles in the trees, plays with the grass 
and the flowers of the fields, and fans the waving grain 
that sways gracefully before its breath. The clouds move 
majestically about from one part of the heavens to another. 
The sea uplifts its waves for joy, and embraces again and 
again the rock-bound shore, leaving its impress and its 



PAIN— DEATH. 43 

bounds in circles on the sands, as it daily ebbs and flows. 
The animals participate in this general law of existence. 
They are ever busy, providing for and protecting them- 
selves in every emergency. And thus we see that all 
nature is alive with activity. 



Stop the wheels of Nature, 
And Nature will cease to be. 



Let stagnation lay her hand upon the earth, and this 
fair and lovely Paradise, now instinct with movement 
and health, will become the dreary seat of sterility and 
death. 

In like manner, pain, thought to be a curse secondary 
only to death, is not only useful, but necessary and bene- 
ficent. It is a special warning to us that something has 
gone wrong, and may go further wrong, in this our curious 
and mysterious physical constitution, if we do not see to 
it to set the wrong right. 

Fain is the friend and guardian of the wise. 

Would'st place thy hand 
In the consuming and destroying fire, 
And ask it not to burn ? Would'st fall from heights 
Upon the strong bosom of the earth, 
And ask it not to bruise ? Would'st break the laws 
That govern and uphold the universe, 
The modulation of harmonious Heaven, , 
And, without knowledge of thy sacrifice, 
Destroy thy being ? Wise, and good, and just 
Are all the laws and purposes of God. 

Death is naturally the dread of all, to the end that all 
may cling to life while they may ; yet death is no more 
an evil, than pain or labor. The world was constituted 



44 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

and prepared for death from the beginning. Millions of 
years ago, as geology has discovered, there were life and 
death on this globe ; life and death in the waters, and on 
the dry land. A square inch of the chalky cliffs of Dover 
or the Isle of Wight contains the shells of myriads of 
minute sea-fish, that must have lived and died hundreds 
of thousands of centuries ago — even before the world was 
ready for the habitation of man, and consequently before 
man's transgression could have involved this supposed 
penalty. 

Death is no evil. Cease, 0, foolish man, 
Thy querulous moaning, and consider death 
No longer as thy foe. A ministering saint, 
Her hand shall lead thee step by step to God. 
Be worthy of her ; and so learn to live, 
That every incarnation of thy soul 
In other worlds, and spheres, and firmaments, 
Shall be more perfect. God's eternity 
Is thine to live in. 

This we hold to be man's destiny hereafter ; and it is 
his high privilege to participate in working out the 
supreme happiness in store for him. Discarding there- 
fore all these obsolete and unworthy ideas of labor, pain, 
and death — products of the early want of knowledge by 
man, and the erroneous teaching of theologians — and 
investigating fairly and candidly the capabilities of man, 
and the purposes of God in creating him, it will be found 
by the study of natural laws that man is especially 
charged, within certain limits, with the guardianship of 
himself. God intended that man should participate in 
taking care of both his soul and his body ; that he should 
look to the preservation and perpetuation of his kind ; 
and both morally and physically so perform the duties 
imposed upon him as to conduce to his own well-being, 



MAN'S WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION. 45 

and the well-being of his fellow men, both in time and in 
eternity. The numerous instincts, appetites, senses, and 
other faculties with which he is endowed, God has given 
him as guides for this purpose. Without these guides, 
he might fail in the great duty of self-preservation, and 
the procreation of his kind, so as to endanger the continu- 
ance of his race. Without the cravings of appetite and 
the pleasure which its gratification affords, he might fail 
to supply himself with the food and drink requisite to 
preserve life. But for the suffering, which is the penalty 
of neglect, he might not be sufficiently vigilant .in pro- 
tecting himself from injury. But for the pain and dis- 
comfort which are the necessary and wholesome monitors 
of excess, he might habitually indulge in eating and 
drinking too much. But God's goodness and care do not 
stop here. Besides these checks and admonitions given 
to him for his improvement, there are offices to be per- 
formed on his behalf, over which he has little or no 
control, and some over which he has no supervision 
whatever. There are chemical and mechanical processes 
continually in operation within him, about which he 
knows very little, and of which God has altogether taken 
charge. These are so completely provided for in his 
organization, that they go on while he is unmindful of 
them. Such are, the circulation of the blood, the draw- 
ing of the breath, the generation of vital heat, the diges- 
tion of food, and the distribution of the nourishment thus 
obtained, to all parts of the body, to promote growth and 
serve for the repair of the system. To subserve these 
ends, and to give rest to the body and spirit, in order to 
prevent the too rapid expenditure of vital energy, and the 
consequent premature decay of the beautiful and complex 
human machine, it is indispensable that the active brain 



46 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and intellect should, at certain periods, not too far apart, 
be brought to that state of quiet and repose which sleep 
alone can superinduce. Hence it is put out of man's 
power to resist sleep to any considerable extent, without 
injury or death. And thus God's laws are constantly 
operating for man's benefit, though man is unconscious or 
unmindful of the kindly despotism by which, for his own 
good, those laws are imposed upon him. 

How beautiful and full of goodness, not only to man, 
but to all living creatures, are what are called the 
instincts ! The new-born babe is taught by this divine 
prompting, the moment it comes into the world, to seek 
its nourishment at the mother's breast. All living 
things — the bees, the ants, the beavers, the birds, the 
wild animals of whatever description, the flocks and herds 
belonging to men, even the flowers and herbs — are gov- 
erned and govern themselves by the instincts which God 
has given them, and are preserved to life and enjoyment 
by their obedience thereto. This is in accordance with 
logic of the highest order ; and yet these happy creatures 
do not reason on the subject, any more than the infant 
at the breast. Instinct is as divine a gift as reason 
itself. It is the gift of God to every living thing. It is 
implanted upon each according to its kind, at creation, 
and transmitted without alteration to the feeble and the 
strong alike. God's superior intelligence, thus made 
manifest and available in all created beings, is necessary 
to the divine purpose. Without it, no living creature on 
the earth could exist. All those beings that people the 
air, the earth, or the waters — various as they may be in 
their forms and organization — have each their own set 
of laws, instincts, and intuitions, which are especially 
adapted to them, and harmonize in the most minute par- 



INSTANCES OF INSTINCT. 47 

ticular with their structure and mode of life, the kind and 
variety of their food, the means of supply, the perpetua- 
tion and nourishment of their kind, their self-protection, 
and whatever is necessary to their existence and enjoy- 
ment. Eagles, vultures, hawks, owls, and other birds 
which feed upon flesh, have beaks and claws especially 
adapted for capturing and killing their prey and for 
dividing asunder their food into convenient quantities to 
be readily devoured. They are led by their appetites to 
crave such food as is appropriate to their nature ; and 
under the influence of their instincts they exercise won- 
drous perseverance and adroitness in the pursuit of it. 
Birds that feed upon carrion have the power of scenting 
it from all but incredible distances. The hare, rabbit, 
and many other animals, which from their structure and 
propensities are not well fitted for self-defence, fly from 
danger, and employ sometimes speed, and sometimes 
stratagem for the purpose. The deprivation of one quality 
is compensated for, by the gift of another that is equally 
available for the intended object. There are many species 
of insects that would become extinct, if instinct had not 
taught them to shield themselves from the frost of winter 
by burrowing in the earth. The means are present ; but 
to make burrowing sufficient to the end in view, it must 
be done at proper times, and in anticipation of the frost. 
This is insured, by inherent instructions from God. — 
Wolves and various other carnivorous animals pursue a 
prey which leaves a scent or trail upon the earth, with a 
marvellous acuteness of smell, while animals that labor 
under no similar need, are gifted with no such capacity. 
The dog is enabled to scent his master along the paved 
streets of populous cities, and to distinguish his trail from 
that of others crossing or intermingled with it, even 



48 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

though hours may have elapsed between the tread of his 
master's foot and the pursuit. The instinct of self-pre- 
servation sometimes assumes the form of cunning. Some 
animals feign death, in the presence of their foe. Many 
insects do the same. The skunk, when alarmed for its 
safety, emits a disagreeable odor, that repels or disgusts 
its pursuer. The cuttle-fish when in peril discharges a 
black liquid, that discolors the water for a considerable 
distance around it, and prevents, by obscuration, the eye 
of its enemy from tracing the course, upwards or down- 
wards or lateral, by which it effects its escape. The hare, 
in the long winters of far Northern latitudes, changes the 
summer color of its skin to that of the snow amid which 
it lives, and is thus enabled to elude the keen glance of 
the bird of prey high up in the air, which otherwise would 
be better able to single out, pounce upon, and destroy it. 
The feathers of the grouse that feed upon the moor are of 
the color of the moor and the heather ; while the plumage 
of the ptarmigan, that dwells among the granite peaks of 
the highest mountains of Scotland and Norway, resembles 
granite even when seen from a short distance. The 
pheasant, the better to shield her young and helpless 
brood from approaching danger, feigns to be crippled, and 
flutters away from her chicks — that hide themselves — in 
such away as to draw off the intruder from her charge by 
pretending to be, herself, an easy prey. The domestic 
hen gathers her chickens under her wings, when the hawk 
or falcon soars above, a mere speck in the sky. She does 
this by a peculiar call, which the young birds understand 
and obey instinctively. The lamb knows the bleat of its 
mother among all the sheep of a flock, however numer- 
ous; and the mother in like manner distinguishes the cry 
of her own progeny, though scores of lambs may be bleat- 



INSTINCT IN VEGETATION. 49 

ing simultaneously. Thus, manifestly do the wisdom and 
goodness of God support and train every living creature 
that he has made, throughout the whole range of crea- 
tion. 

But all these wonderful provisions in Nature, which 
harmonize so beautifully with the peculiar constitution, 
appetites, means of support and protection of life, that 
we observe in animals, are a most emphatic contradiction 
to the Christian theory, that, before the Fall, these crea- 
tures were not antagonistic to each other, and that God 
did not contemplate death in His original plan at the 
creation. 

Neither the physical nor the spiritual eye of man can 
penetrate any department of Nature, without discovering 
objects to excite wonder, admiration, and worship. Even 
the members of the vegetable world have been endowed 
with something analogous to the instincts of the animal 
creation. The roots of trees and plants are attracted from 
considerable distances to the spot where the nourishment 
that best suits them is found in greatest abundance, and 
can be made available for their growth and development. 
Trees that grow on the plains, unsheltered by other trees 
or objects, have wider and deeper-spreading roots and a 
firmer hold on the earth, in order to meet their greater 
needs, and put out their strongest roots in the direction 
whence come the prevailing winds and rudest blasts. 
Trees in the dense forest vie with each other, as men do 
in crowded communities, each striving to tower above its 
neighbor in quest of that abundance of sunlight and fresh 
air, so essential to its existence and growth. The ivy 
and the vine which depend on their sturdier and more 
earth-fast .neighbors for support, when they rear their 
delicate foliage to the light, and put forth their tendrils as 
4 



50 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

though they were fingers, seem to discern and choose the 
friends on whom to lean, and straightway incline their 
stems and train their course thitherward. And if God 
has given instincts to the trees, the grass, and the flowers, 
by which they preserve their existence and conform to 
the laws of their well-being, it is difficult not to believe 
that to them also, in one sense, is given a certain amount 
of enjoyment. The sunshine and the rain must give 
them pleasure ; and the rose, the lily, and the violet may 
know that they are beautiful, and take pleasure in the 
fact, not as sensitively perhaps, as the beautiful of our 
own species, yet in a degree. It may not be altogether a 
fancy of the poet, but an unsuspected truth, that the 
trees, which quiver to the summer wind or bend or moan 
in the wintry blast, 

******* £ men unknown 

Have pleasures of their own, 
And feel sweet sympathies with all dear Nature's woods. 

We deem that all the leaves, 

In morns, or noons, or eves. 
Or in the starry stillness of the night, 

May point to Heaven in prayer, 

Or bend to earth and share 
Some joy of sense, some natural delight;' 

That root, and branch, and stem, 

Partake the joy with them, 
And feel through all their sap, God's goodness infinite. 

God's laws provide not only for the incessant reproduc- 
tion or recomposition of vegetable and animal life, so as 
to compensate for the decay which time has been commis- 
sioned to operate on all that lives — thus keeping the face 
of nature forever fresh and beautiful — but He has pro- 
vided that the earth itself, however venerably old, shall 



RECUPERATIVE POWERS OF NATURE. • 51 

always be young, always fruitful, always bountiful, always 
lovely. The same recuperative power, that exists in man 
and animals, exists through all Nature. The waving 
fields of corn and grass, when too rudely pressed by the 
gale or storm, or disfigured by the trail of man or beast, 
are in a brief space, under the genial influence of the 
sun, the breezes, and the inscrutable laws of Nature — 
which train plants heavenward — put to rights, if such a 
phrase may be used, and restored to their original beauty. 
The majestic oak, shattered by the lightning, and deprived 
of vitality, does not forever stand a gloomy object in the 
landscape. The ivy, "friend and adorner of decay," as 
if in sympathy with its fate, binds up, as it were, its 
wounds, its nakedness, its seared old trunk and limbs, 
and renders it beautiful with its own life, turning its 
helplessness to cheerful purposes. Even at the fall of 
the leaf, and in the old age of the year, when the land- 
scape is disrobed of its verdure, Nature does not cease to 
be lovely. She bestows upon each season its own com- 
pensations in the present, for what it may have lost in 
the past. The howling winds — the drifting snow forming 
into graceful undulations, slopes and curves, and mantling 
the landscape with their beauty — the icy gems that 
attach themselves to every tree, and bush, and herb, and 
sparkle in the sunlight like precious stones — these do not 
impress the soul with gloom, but with a never wearied 
sense of the grandeur, the goodness, and the beauty of 
all God's works and ways. 

And while God is thus careful for His creatures, He is 
equally careful in preserving and beautifying the earth 
for their enjoyment. For is not the earth itself as much 
the object of His goodness and divine government, as the 
living things that He has placed upon it? There are 



52 ' ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

laws pertaining to its affairs, of which if any one became 
inoperative, the destruction of all animal and vegetable 
life would speedily ensue. Among these may be named 
evaporation and condensation, cohesive attraction, fric- 
tion, gravitation, and the centrifugal and centripetal 
forces. If there were no such laws as evaporation and 
condensation at work, the watery vapor that floats in the 
atmosphere would not be liquified, and consequently we 
should have no rain to water the earth ; it would become 
parched for want of moisture, and the streams and rivers 
would cease to flow. If the effect of cohesion and fric- 
tion were wanting, the particles of matter of which the 
hills and mountains are composed would descend into the 
valleys, and under the same law by which the waters of 
the rivers now flow into the sea — the whole surface of 
the globe would assume a perfectly spherical shape, be 
covered with water, and become uninhabitable for men, 
beasts, birds, or any other creatures except fishes and 
sea reptiles. Without the law of gravitation, the whole 
material of our globe would fly asunder, and be scattered 
in space. Without centrifugal force, the earth would 
gravitate to the sun and be destroyed. Without centri- 
petal force, or gravity, the earth would leave its orbit, 
wander from the planetary system, be deprived of the 
heat and light of the sun, and be rendered unfit for either 
animal or vegetable life. 

The next great point to be considered is of even more 
importance than any that we have yet touched upon. If 
the study of Nature in all its varied moods and manifes- 
tations, proves that God's goodness extends in this world 
to all that He has placed within it, and even to the world 
itself which He governs and sustains, shall not the divine 
goodness be extended to the soul of man through all eter- 



CHURCH METHOD OF SALVATION. 53 

nity? God may be continually employed in creating 
new worlds and new systems ; but never, if the foregoing 
arguments be sound, can He be employed in correcting 
such mistakes as are implied in the Bible history of the 
fall of man, and the Church doctrine of his consequent 
damnation, if he do not believe the incredible. The laws 
which He laid down at the beginning, for the preserva- 
tion and government of the physical universe, must be 
equally beneficent, wise and unchangeable, when applied 
to our spiritual life, not alone in time, but in eternity. 
Their application to tangible matter may be more appa- 
rent ; but the spirit feels internal evidence that God's 
goodness and care are ever shielding the immortal as well 
as the mortal part of man. It would be past the compre- 
hension of the wisest, if this were not the case, and incon- 
sistent with God's character, as exhibited throughout the 
universe, so far as man has been enabled to study it. It 
would be irrational, to believe that God did not take 
care at the creation, to ordain, establish, and put in opera- 
tion—to be transmitted unimpaired to all mankind — 
instincts, intuitions, inspirations, and whatever properties 
may be essential to the soul's need in time and eternity, 
equal at least to His care in provision made for the body ! 
None will deny that the provision pertaining to man's 
physical nature was as full and effectual at first, as now. 
Yet those who uphold the doctrine of the fall of man, 
and that of Christ's divinity and mission, must be held 
to say that God omitted at the beginning to make pro- 
vision for conducting the soul of man through time, with 
sufficient definiteness to answer the purposes of His crea- 
tion ; and that, upon afterthought suggested and necessi- 
tated by man's unexpected perverseness, He had to make 
further provision to meet the emergency. 



54 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

This idea of afterthought, though not palpable at first 
view, is nevertheless inseparable from church teaching, 
and no sophistry can rescue it from the charge of being 
irreligious, absurd, and inconsistent with God's infinite 
perfections. It pre-supposes that all mankind who lived 
and died before the advent of Jesus, and all those who 
have not heard or shall not hear of salvation through his 
crucifixion, were and are without the benefit of that love 
which it is claimed, was only vouchsafed to man through 
his divinity. According to such a doctrine as this, if a 
man lives a life of purity and charity and benevolence — 
in fine, just such a life as Jesus recommended in his early 
teachings — it will avail him nothing. He must have faith 
in a dogma which reason cannot understand, and which 
contradicts the idea of both God's wisdom and goodness. 
To reconcile this belief with a belief in God's goodness, 
it is claimed that, for those who have never heard or 
never will hear of redemption through Christ, God has a 
mode of salvation which the church fails to specify, but 
which answers all practical purposes. If this be so, it is 
difficult to see in what, as regards the soul of man, the 
benefit of the new mode consists. It is impossible, as we 
have shewn, for man not to have faith in the existence of 
a Supreme Being, who is infinite in wisdom, infinite in 
power, and infinite in goodness. True religion, therefore, 
does not consist in dogmatic beliefs or superstitious theo- 
ries. It consists in reverence and gratitude to the Divine 
Being, and the proper discharge, by each one of us, of his 
duty to himself, his fellow-man, and every creature with 
which he may have relations, and whose condition may- 
be improved by his good offices and kindness. 

This leads us to the consideration of what is called 
moral evil. Of physical evil there is in reality none. 



GODS METHOD OF SALVATION. 55 

That which is so called — under the names of Labor, 
Pain, and Death — we have already disposed of. God, in 
the creation of man, did not expect him to fulfill all his 
duties, without running counter to many of the irrevoca- 
ble and unchangeable laws to which he is amenable. This 
is conclusively proved by the peculiar constitution of man, 
which must have been his condition at the time of his 
creation. He is gifted with such capacities as would have 
been of no practical use to him unless to educate and 
guard him against violating laws, the effect of which he 
can better understand, and the importance of conforming 
to which he can better realize, when once he has broken 
them. This relates to the moral and spiritual, as well as 
to the physical nature of man. Man's body suffers pain, 
when he has violated the laws of bodily health ; his spirit 
is degraded, when he has violated those which pertain to 
the spirit ; and, if the violation be persisted in, the pun- 
ishment will be repeated accordingly. These pains are 
sent in mercy to man, for the purpose of bringing him 
back to the path of law and duty, guiding him therein, 
and admonishing him to be more careful in future. These 
means of educating man, and of making God's care, justice, 
and goodness available to him to the extent of his needs — 
short-sighted as he is — were provided for at his creation. 
This view, we are aware, is in all respects at variance 
with the idea, that God created man sufficiently perfect to 
keep all His laws unbroken, or that God expected him to 
do so. 

The existence of moral evil leads mankind the better 
to understand and to practice moral good. Men, in the 
aggregate, do vastly more good than evil ; and they 
whose bad actions preponderate largely, or even moder- 
ately, over their good ones, are comparatively very few. 



56 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS 

Good deeds make but little noise in the world ; bad ones 
a great deal. The life of a considerable majority of man- 
kind is largely made up of the practice of small virtues. 
Even so little a thing as a kind word, or a kind look, has 
soothed the aching heart, and caused the eye of the sor- 
rowing and disconsolate to glisten with hope and happi- 
ness. These may seem trifles, when viewed separately ; 
but when taken in the mass, they form a monument of 
praise, just as mountains raise their heads to Heaven, 
though composed of individual atoms of earth. Con- 
spicuous virtues are no more acceptable to God than the 
humble ones'; and the smallest act of obedience to law, is 
as meritorious as the greatest. The widow's mite is as 
acceptable as the rich man's offering, and has its equal 
reward. Thankfulness and duty are the only roads to 
happiness. All God's blessings and good gifts were pre- 
pared and the conditions prescribed on which they were 
attainable, from the first. Man should be thankful for 
the abundance and excellence of these gifts ; and espe- 
cially thankful that they are not capriciously distributed, 
but are attainable upon the principle that like cause pro- 
duces like effect. 

And although those, which man in his short-sighted- 
ness may deem the most precious blessings, do not fall 
profusely on every individual, yet, if we take men collec- 
tively they will be found to be as much in accordance 
with their welfare as is consistent with their future des- 
tiny. Every man, whether he be rich or poor — whatever 
his joys, whatever his sufferings — is as happy as is well 
for him under existing circumstances. What may seem 
to be a man's partial loss in one way, may be more 
than compensated for in another manner. This fact is 
constantly exemplified. The possessor of wealth and 



PRAYER. 57 

indulger in luxury sometimes injures his health, impairs 
his faculty for sound sleep, and disturbs the serenity of 
his mind, by over-indulgence ; while a poor man, who 
leads an active life and avoids excess, is rewarded by the 
priceless blessing of health of body and mind, which all 
the gold in the world could not purchase. In this, God's 
goodness and justice are most conspicuously apparent. 

We now approach the apparently difficult, but in reality 
the simple, subject of prayer, as offered by individuals 
and by the churches. We have already said that God's 
good gifts are only to be obtained on the terms prescribed 
at the creation — terms which are never modified or altered, 
to suit the pleasure or supposed necessity of any one indi- 
vidual or of all mankind combined. Even if the whole 
human family should, at the same instant, pray most 
devoutly for the slightest change in God's original ordi- 
nances or purposes toward mankind, none could take 
place. The rain cannot be made to fall, because man 
prays for it. The pestilence cannot be removed by sup- 
plication to God ; but by conformity to those physical 
laws, the breach of which produced the pestilence. This 
view is admirably illustrated and argued out by Mr. 
Buckle in his History of Civilization in England, from 
which we make a long, but very interesting extract. 

"In. the year 1853, the cholera, after having committed 
serious ravages in many parts of Europe, visited Scotland. 
There, it was sure to find numerous victims anions a 
badly fed, badly housed, and not over-cleanly people. 
For, if there is one thing better established than another 
respecting this disease, it is that it invariably attacks, 
with the greatest effect, those classes who, from poverty 
or from sloth, are imperfectly nourished, neglect their 



58 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

persons, and live in dirty, ill-drained, or ill-ventilated 
dwellings. In Scotland, such classes are very numerous. 
In Scotland, therefore, the cholera must needs be very 
fatal. * * * * Under these circumstances, it must have 
been evident, not merely to men of science, but to all 
men of plain, sound understanding, who would apply 
their minds to the matter without prejudice, that the 
Scotch had only one way of successfully grappling with 
their terrible enemy, It behooved them to feed their poor, 
to cleanse their cesspools, and to ventilate their houses. 
If they had done this, and done it quickly, thousands of 
lives would have been spared. But they neglected it, 
and the country was thrown into mourning. Nay, they 
not only neglected it, but, moved by the dire superstition 
which sits like an incubus upon them, they adopted a 
course which, if it had been carried into full operation, 
would have aggravated the calamity to a frightful extent. 
It is well known that, whenever an epidemic is raging, 
physical exhaustion and mental depression make the 
human frame more liable to it, and are therefore espe- 
cially to be guarded against. But, though this is a mat- 
ter of common notoriety, the Scotch clergy, backed, sad 
to say, by the general voice of the Scotch people, wished 
the public authorities to take a step which was certain 
to cause physical exhaustion, and to encourage mental 
depression. In the name of religion, whose offices they 
thus abused and perverted to the detriment of man, 
instead of employing them for his benefit, they insisted 
on the propriety of ordering a national fast, which in so 
superstitious a country was sure to be rigidly kept, and, 
being rigidly kept, was equally sure to enfeeble thousands 
of delicate persons, and before twenty-four hours were 
passed prepare them to receive that deadly poison which 



FASTING INJURIOUS. 59 

was already lurking around them, and which hitherto 
they had just strength enough to resist. The public fast 
was also to be accompanied by a public humiliation, in 
order that nothing might be wanting to appeal to the 
mind and fill it with terror. * * * * 

"This was the scheme projected by the Scotch clergy; 
and they were determined to put it into execution. To 
give greater effect to it, they called upon England to help 
them, and, in the autumn of 1853, the Presbytery of 
Edinburgh caused their Moderator to address a letter, 
ostensibly to the English minister, but in reality to the 
English nation, enquiring whether the Queen contem- 
plated appointing a national fast-day. 

" The letter, which, through the medium of the press, 
was sure to become well known and to be widely read, 
was evidently intended to act on public opinion in Eng- 
land. It was, in fact, a covert reproach on the English 
government for having neglected its spiritual duties, and 
for not having perceived that fasting was the most 
effectual way of stopping an epidemic. In Scotland 
generally, it received great praise, and was regarded as a 
dignified rebuke addressed to the irreligious habits of the 
English people, who, seeing the cholera at their doors, 
merely occupied themselves with sanitary measures, and 
carnal devices to improve the public health, showing 
thereby that they trusted too much to the arms of the 
flesh. In England, on the other hand, this manifesto of 
the Scotch Church was met with almost universal ridicule, 
and indeed found no favorers, except among the most 
ignorant and credulous part of the nation. The minister, 
to whom it was addresed, was Lord Palmerston, a man of 
vast experience, and perhaps better acquainted with public 
opinion than any politician of his time. He, being well 



60 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

aware that notions which the Scotch deemed religious the 
English deemed fanatical, * * * * directed a letter to be 
sent to the Presbytery of Edinburgh, which, unless I am 
greatly mistaken, will in future ages be quoted as an 
interesting document for illustrating the history of the 
progress of public opinion. A century ago, any states- 
man who had written such a letter would have been 
driven from office by a storm of general indignation. 
Two centuries ago, the consequences to him would have 
been still more disastrous, and would indeed have ruined 
him socially, as well as politically. For, in it he sets at 
defiance those superstitious fancies respecting the origin 
of disease, which were once universally cherished as an 
essential part of every religious creed. Traditions, the 
memory of which is preserved in the theological literature 
of all Pagan countries, of all Catholic countries, and of all 
Protestant countries, are quietly put aside, as if they 
were matters of no moment, and as if it were not worth 
while to discuss them. The Scotch clergy, occupying the 
old ground on which the members of their profession 
had always been accustomed to stand, took for granted 
that the cholera was the result of divine anger, and 
was intended to chastise our sins. In the reply which 
they now received from the English Government, a doc- 
trine was enunciated, which to Englishmen seems right 
enough, but which to Scotchmen sounded very profane. 
The Presbytery were informed, that the affairs of this 
world are regulated by natural laws, on the observance 
or neglect of which the weal or woe of mankind depends. 
One of those laws connects disease with the exhala- 
tions of bodies ; and it is by virtue of this law that 
contagion spreads, either in crowded cities, or in places 
where vegetable decomposition is going on. Man, by 



GOD'S LAWS ALL-SUFFICIENT. 61 

exerting himself, can disperse or neutralize these noxious 
influences. The appearance of the cholera proves that 
he has not exerted himself. The towns have not been 
purified ; hence the root of the evil. The Home Sec- 
retary, therefore, advised the Presbytery of Edinburgh, 
that it was better to cleanse than to fast. He thought 
that the plague being upon them, activity was preferable 
to humiliation. It was now autumn, and before the hot- 
weather would return a considerable period must elapse. 
That period should be employed in destroying the causes 
of disease, by improving the abodes of the poor. If this 
were done, all would go well. Otherwise, pestilence 
would be sure to revisit them 'in spite' — I quote the 
words of the English minister — ' in spite of all the prayers 
and fastings of a united, but inactive nation.' 

"This correspondence between the Scotch clergy and 
the English statesman is not to be regarded as a mere 
passing episode, of light or temporary interest. On the 
contrary, it represents that terrible struggle between the- 
ology and science, which, having begun in the persecu- 
tion of science and in the martyrdom of scientific men, 
has, in these later days, taken a happier turn, and is now 
manifestly destroying that old theological spirit which has 
brought so much misery and ruin upon the world." 

If God is perfect in knowledge, any attempt of priest- 
craft to dictate to Him, by means of prayer, what He 
should do, is pitiable ignorance or gross blasphemy. Jesus 
himself, says, "Your Father knoweth what things ye 
have need of before ye ask Him." God's laws are all- 
sufficient ; and man's only business is to understand and 
obey them. To pray publicly or privately, may soothe 
the spirit of man, and raise him to a state of mental 
excitement and exaltation ; but it can have no effect on 



62 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

God's will. It may be asked how God's goodness is to 
benefit man, if he is to be subjected, and amenable to 
inflexible laws, which no prayer can mitigate or turn 
aside. The answer is easy. God organized and incorpo- 
rated in man's system or nature, from the first, such 
qualities, faculties, and functions, as were necessary to fit 
him for being the medium and dispenser of God's blessings 
to himself and to his fellows. God placed within him con- 
science — "the voice of God" — the innate sense of right 
and wrong. He gave him also his reason and reflective 
faculties, together with instincts and intuitions, all of 
which point and lead to a belief in the immortality of the 
soul. All these, and others of a similar character, enable 
him to thread his way among the unchangeable and eter- 
nal laws of God, with a success which answers God's pur- 
pose in relation to his existence here and hereafter, and 
ought to secure thankfulness from him for the glorious 
bestowal of such a boon. He has been endowed, too, 
with such faculties as enable him, if be will, to under- 
stand the rationale of God's laws, whenever he studies 
them, and to recognize the harmony with which they all 
co-operate to work out a divine purpose. All animate 
and inanimate beings and things, it would seem, are 
allowed a certain free-will, and vacillate between two 
restraining laws which keep them within their proper 
bounds. The planets are prevented from getting too near 
the sun by centrifugal force, and from getting too far from 
him by that other restraining force called centripetal. 
These laws balance each other, and maintain and support 
the equilibrium of the universe. 

The intellect of man is able to appreciate the utility of 
this, and of all God's laws. Hence it is clear that God 
has so constituted man, that, to a certain extent, he has 



NONE DESTINED TO ENDLESS MISERY. 63 

the means of interpreting aright God's ways here upon 
earth. Thus is he allowed to enter into fellowship with 
his divine Maker, and enabled to argue from the tilings 
of time to those of eternity. Let him do this, and lie 
will find abundant reason for the consolatory belief that 
not one human creature will be permitted to stray so far 
from the path of duty, as to bring upon himself utter and 
endless misery. He cannot help but have faith that God 
has made laws to restrain, and which ever will restrain 
humanity, as the planets and other heavenly bodies 
are restrained within their prescribed bounds. Thus 
instructed, he cannot ignore the impressions which he has 
received from the unmistakable manifestations of God's 
goodness toward him, or give his faith to a pretended rev- 
elation of God's character that consigns him to everlasting- 
torment if he do not accept a faith inconsistent with 
itself. Why should God enable man to see and feel His 
goodness in this world of time, if He had no such good- 
ness in store for him in the world of eternity? In this 
mortal state man has been so constituted, and his agency 
or control over his own acts has been so limited, that not- 
withstanding his lack of sufficient knowledge to enable 
him to conform to all the laws to which he is amenable — 
he is not permitted to depart so far from the right path, 
as to make it impossible for him eventually to attain the 
high state of bliss designed for him. He may bring upon 
himself penalties that may injure or kill his body ; but he 
cannot forfeit his soul to everlasting misery. God has 
loved man too well, to put it in his power to do this ; and 
too well not to put it in his power to work out for him- 
self a higher degree of happiness in eternity than he can 
in this world, or than his limited faculties can conceive. 
All this may be fairly deduced from God's manifestations 



64 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

of goodness throughout all Nature, and the faith He has 
implanted in man's reason, conscience, and instinct, that 
his existence shall be — not a curse, or even a blank — but 
a transcendent blessing. 

God's knowledge in relation to man is perfect. Man's 
liability to err, and the bounds which are set thereto, and 
the penalties which are attached to each breach of the 
law, are alike of God's ordaining. Who then, remember- 
ing these things, shall doubt that God has so adjusted one 
to the other, as that the punishment on the other side of 
the grave shall be, as here, for man's further education, 
and for his best interests and happiness ? By analogy 
this should be so ; and it is fair to infer that it is so, since 
the same God that has tempered and adjusted all things, 
so as to make life happy here, shall be equally our God — 
the God of goodness and wisdom — throughout all eter- 
nity. 

The human soul is so attuned to what the ancients 
called " the music of the spheres," that all Nature draws 
it to the contemplation of a higher existence. Every 
living and every inanimate thing, and all the wondrous 
phenomena of the visible universe, seem to whisper to 
man to aspire and to be thankful. The moan of the wind, 
the blustering of the storm, the falling of the rain, the 
flash of the lightning, the rolling of the thunder, the 
lowing of the herd, the hum of the bee, the song of the 
bird, the fragrant loveliness of the flowers, the roar of the 
sea upon the shore, the gloomy grandeur of the ocean, the 
gurgling of the stream, the sigh of the forest leaves and 
branches, the sublimity of the snow-covered mountain- 
tops, the serene beauty of the morning and the evening > 
the majesty of night, the harmony of truth, the trans- 
cendent bliss when two souls are fused into one — when 



MORAL EVIL. 65 

one heart beats in two bosoms, when the same soul is 
eloquent in mutual eyes — love to children, love to parents, 
the kind emotions and sympathies of the human family 
one to another, and to other living things these multifari- 
ous joys all preach the immutable truth, that God's 
beneficence pervades the universe, and that all tends to 
develop man's innate belief in His goodness, and prompts 
to praise and worship Him. Praise is joy ; and the best 
worship is the obedience which, in its turn, produces the 
happiness of the worshipper. This is man's experience 
in time ; and, if it be not destined to be his experience 
throughout eternity, God's goodness would be finite, which 
it is impossible to believe. 

It has been urged by the preachers of Christianity and 
of nearly all known systems of theology that, however 
good God may be, He permits the existence of evil ; and 
that man may prevail upon God by sacrifice and prayer, 
to remove or lighten its load. Most modern sects have 
discarded the idea of sacrifices for this purpose ; but all 
insist, not only upon the efficacy, but upon the absolute 
necessity of prayer. These phases of belief originate in 
erroneous ideas of God's goodness. 

Physical evil is but another name for pain ; and pain, 
as has already been shewn, is in its purpose entirely 
benevolent — a warning that we have transgressed some 
law imposed upon us for our good. Moral evil is, in like 
manner, but another name for disobedience. If it were 
impossible for man to disobey any physical or moral law 
of God, he would be deprived, not alone of free-will, but 
of the capacity for improvement and of mental growth. 
He would be unable even to aspire to a better state of 
existence, or to qualify himself to enter it. There would 
be no propriety in his being placed in this world in a 
5 



66 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

state of probation. There can be no probation, where 
it is impossible to go wrong. It is sometimes asked, how 
the injustice so often committed by man on man is to be 
reconciled with the shield which God has thrown around 
him, and all the inferior animals, for self-protection ? The 
reply is, that so far as the corporeal part of man is con- 
cerned, and so far as intellectual agencies operate in this 
life, the protection is not perfect, else man's free agency 
would have no office. The protection provided is efficient 
only up to the boundary that circumscribes man's free 
will. Within that boundary man can work out for him- 
self a higher or lower degree of happiness, according as 
he understands and conforms to God's laws ; and it may 
be that the trials and vexations of this life will serve, by 
contrast, to increase the joys and happiness of the next. 
In fact, we can scarcely conceive what enjoyment would 
be, if we had no idea of the reverse. As regards the 
liability of man to encroach upon the rights of others, it 
must not be forgotten that God has given him various quali- 
ties, propensities, and incentives to action, in order that 
he may be used as an instrument, within certain limits, 
for carrying out God's purposes. These are, in the first 
place, that men shall contribute to the happiness and wel- 
fare of each other by kind offices and social intercourse ; 
and secondly, that every individual shall secure a greater 
or less degree of happiness in this life and the life to 
come, according as he deserves more or less by his obe- 
dience. Now, while each individual may, in the exercise 
of his free-will, perform his part more or less perfectly, 
yet so strong in the right direction are the propensities 
established within him as motives to his conduct, that 
man, by the exercise of his free-will within its prescribed 
limits, accomplishes God's purpose while in the pursuit of 



PRAYER THE EFFECT OF IGNORANCE. 67 

his own happiness. This accounts for some of man's pro- 
pensities being vastly stronger than others. Among the 
things which man has an agency in performing, and which 
God will not permit to fail, are, the perpetuation of the 
race of men, and the preparation of the soul of each man 
for the enjoyment of, at least some degree of happiness in 
time, and a high degree of happiness in eternity. Hence 
God has given man unusually strong propensities in rela- 
tion to these two great duties of life. These press with 
resistless force to the accomplishment of their objects ; and 
it sometimes happens, in impetuous natures, that they over- 
step their proper boundaries in these respects and run riot. 
But it is better for a man to be over-selfish, than to fail 
in the indulgence of these propensities to the extent of 
neglect in taking due care of his life and happiness. Thus 
the minor evil is consequent upon the ample means taken 
to ensure the greater good. 

Man, in his early ignorance, that pain was not of itself 
an evil, but a necessary part of the divine government of 
the universe, was induced to pray to the Supreme Being 
for its removal. The custom still prevails ; and it there- 
fore becomes proper to enquire how it is that men should 
continue to ask God to perform miracles or acts of special 
providence in their favor, and sometimes on very frivolous 
pretexts. Did any man ever have proof positive that 
any prayer was answered? Events sometimes happen 
seemingly at the instance of prayer ; but it is impossible 
to be assured, beyond the possibility of mistake, that the 
event in question would not have taken place, entirely, 
independent of any prayer. 

In the infancy of the race, when mental and material 
progress was naturally slow, the first idea of God, the 
divine Father, was based upon that of the human father, 



68 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

who tenderly supplied the wants of the child — even before 
the wants were made known, and who always listened 
with attention to the supplications of his offspring — when 
those supplications were for such blessings, benefits, or 
necessities, as ought to be supplied. In the manhood of 
the individual, these supplications cease ; and each person 
arriving at maturity learns, as his father did before him, 
to depend upon his own exertions, in conformity with the 
laws of Nature, and to provide himself, and those depen- 
dent upon him with food, raiment, and shelter. In the 
manhood of the race, the same' results ensue — though 
they are not acknowledged — and man practically per- 
ceives, though he may not admit the fact theoretically, 
that prayer to God for the supply of our wants is wholly 
unnecessary, inasmuch as God has provided beforehand 
for all things which pertain to man's happiness and enjoy- 
ment, with a profusion and variety greater than most of 
us can conceive. Man having outgrown his moral child- 
hood should, therefore, be manly and mature enough in 
his intellect, to understand and act upon the knowledge, 
that God's favors and gifts can only be had by conform- 
ing to the conditions prescribed for all that live. 

It is not insisted that prayer to Gocl, to raise us 
miraculously from a bed of sickness, or to give us clearer 
views of His will and pleasure that we may serve Him 
the better, may not have some beneficial effect upon the 
mind of him who prays, though the act be irrational. In 
the case of sickness, if the means of recovery by Nature's 
appointed mode are properly applied, an unfounded faith 
that God will specially interpose, may excite a livelier 
hope of recovery, and thus indirectly be of benefit to the 
sufferer, for the reason that hope is half the cure, and 
tranquillity and buoyancy of spirit are healthful to the 



PRAYER FOR RECOVERY. 69 

flesh. On the other hand there is danger that faith in 
prayer — as if that were the only panacea and specific — 
may lead to the systematic neglect of the true means of 
recovery. The man who asks God to stimulate him to 
worship and obedience by supernatural means, or who 
asks Him for health, or wealth, or length of life, or any 
other especial grace or favor, acts in effect as if God had 
been unmindful of him, and had not provided for his 
needs ; and thereby, virtually, accuses his Maker of igno- 
rance or neglect. It may be said, however, in defence of 
this man's conduct, that his prayer, though unanswered, 
is not without spiritual uses. Were a man in a floating 
boat to pull at a rope attached to the shore, having all 
the time perfect faith that he is pulling the shore to the 
boat, instead of hauling the boat to the shore, it would 
make no difference with him which was the result, so that 
the boat and shore came too;ether at last. So, while a 
man prays God to come to him, he may be unwittingly 
drawing himself to God, through God's originally 
appointed or natural means, independent of prayer — 
while he imagines that God is coming to him by super- 
natural means, that is, at the instance of prayer. In 
this way man may conceive himself benefitted by the 
usual mode of prayer, and thus fail to recognize the true 
source of the benefit. But it is important to the highest 
worship of God, that man should have full faith that God 
originally provided for whatever is needful for bim, so 
that he may understand that if he fail to enjoy these 
provisions on the terms primarily prescribed by God, it is 
through his own mistake or neglect, and not God's — as 
man's irrational prayer would imply. 

Prayer is not worship ; and the only worship that can 
be acceptable to God consists in obedience to His divine 



70 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and beneficial laws, and in thankfulness and gratitude for 
the gifts so lavishly showered upon us. 

The religion, which the spiritual necessities of mankind 
require, finds its only foundation in. the teachings of God 
to all men, and is aptly illustrated in the precepts and 
pure teachings of Jesus — when disencumbered of Judaism 
and all the Mosaic mythology — to wit, adoration of God, 
and . love and duty to man. This is the one true religion 
established in the hearts, consciences, and souls of all 
men from the beginning, which ever has been, and ever 
will be sufficient to the end, that, through God's wisdom, 
goodness and justice, the existence of each member of the 
human family shall result in the glorification of the 
Creator, and the happiness of His creatures — be the 
path travelled ever so tortuous or rough. 

By the persistency with which Christian teachers of 
all denominations and sects — from the Pope down to the 
elected minister of the poorest chapel or meeting-house — 
continue to dwell on the allegory of the fall of Man, and 
the consequent supposed necessity of Christ's sacrifice, all 
people of emancipated intellect are driven from the 
churches in despair and weariness of spirit. The multi- 
tude, like those who followed Jesus to the mountain, 
hunger for the bread of life, and are presented with a 
theological stone, in which there is no mental or spiritual 
nutriment. God, according to the teaching's of Moses, is 
a God of anger and to be feared, who could not be propi- 
tiated but with sacrifices and burnt offerings. God, 
according to His own teachings, is a God of perfect good- 
ness, who requires no sacrifice from His creatures; 
nothing but faith and cheerful obedience to the benevo- 
lent laws which He instituted for their spiritual and 
physical happiness. The God of Moses did not know, 



THE GOD OF MOSES. 71 

and could not foresee, anything that was to happen in 
His own creation. The God of all, is all-wise ; and to 
His omniscience nothing is hidden, in the past, the 
present, or the future. To reconcile these two systems, 
or to engraft one upon the other, as all the Christian 
churches have attempted to do, for more than eighteen 
centuries, is impossible. They are antagonistic, discor- 
dant, and irreconcilable. If one be true, the other must 
be false. If a theory supposed to be true at one time, 
ceased to be true at another, it can never have been true 
at all ; for God's truths are eternal as Himself. The 
doctrine taught by God from the beginning, and which 
is ever being echoed and re-echoed in the souls of all 
men— -that He is infinite in goodness as in all things, and 
that man's highest duty is to cultivate the sublime germ 
of love to God and man within himself, so that its legiti- 
mate fruits may be produced by contributing, as far as 
it is consistent with his duty to himself, to the happiness, 
and well-being of all God's creatures — this doctrine, 
this religion, this teaching, needs no support from Moses 
or his theology. It is the only known religion that may 
be safely stripped of all externals, and left in its beau- 
tiful simplicity, to appeal to the heart and intellect of the 
humblest, as well as of the most exalted of mankind. 
The mischief is that this religion has been adulterated 
with falsehoods, which, under the disguise of vital truths, 
have, as Jesus said, not brought peace into the world, 
but continual strife, and the sword, and theological dis- 
sensions ; and probably these dissensions will never cease 
until religion is thoroughly purged of all false theology. 
All the Christian churches, following Moses and the 
Old Testament, in one breath declare God to be a God of 
Love — to which all His works bear witness — and in the 



72 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

next that He is wrathful, revengeful, and cruel ; that He 
is a God who has determined to inflict, everlastingly, the 
most horrible torture on every individual of the human 
race, who shall in the course of his life commit a single 
sin, or fail to observe the least of His laws. Further 
than this, they declare that the human race merits this 
punishment, even though personally, they commit no sin, 
because Adam, the first man, sinned ; and that God's 
love is shewn by His permitting Jesus — himself God — to 
atone for Adam's transgression, though the benefits of 
this atonement are not to be extended to any one who 
does not have entire faith in its efficacy. This doctrine 
is utterly at variance with the never-ceasing logic of 
Nature, and with the constant manifestations of God's 
goodness and justice, that to escape the dilemma, they 
who teach it, are led to resort to various subterfuges to 
make the faith acceptable to those on whom they would 
impose it. Out of these falsehoods and contradictions 
have grown the never-ending disagreements, disputes, 
and contentions of religious sects and their spiritual 
instructors — " blind leaders of the blind." It was these 
very contradictions and dissensions that brought about, 
not only, the crucifixion of Jesus, but all the wars that 
have been waged in the world for opinion's sake in rela- 
tion to theological matters, since the days of Moses and 
the Prophets. Jesus said that he came not to send peace, 
but a sword. And it has been calculated that the wars 
which have been waged on account of the differences of 
opinion in or on doctrinal points have cost the lives of 
above two millions of people. Those engaged in, to 
establish Christianity, and those persevered in, against 
the Turks concerning the Holy Land, have cost many 
millions more. The wars of Charlemagne to christianize 



PRIESTCRAFT. 73 

the Saxons, and of the Spaniards to convert the Moors 
and Americans, have deluged the earth with innocent 
blood. And the Inquisition alone, since its foundation in 
the fourteenth century, has burnt above one hundred 
thousand persons of both sexes, besides destroying twice 
that number by torture and the dungeon. To this point 
we shall have occasion to refer hereafter. 

It may be asked, whether what the Christian churches 
preach and claim to be indispensable to man's salvation 
is altogether wrong. This is not asserted. No teaching 
addressed to man's religious nature can be entirely in 
error, which obtains such an ascendency over the minds of 
men. It has much truth, but a great deal of error; and 
what it has of truth is mixed up with error, in such a way 
as to render it extremely difficult for the mass of man- 
kind to separate the one from the other. Priestcraft is 
fully aware of the value of theological fable, as a means 
of strengthening and consolidating its power over human 
affairs; and, lest the simple truths of Nature which all 
may study, should have their legitimate effect in assign- 
ing to the every-day duties of life their legitimate import- 
ance in making up the sum of man's religious duty, the 
Christian churches all insist that, if man's thankfulness to 
the one Cod be ever so great, and all the duties of life be 
ever so well performed, yet if faith in the necessity and 
efficacy of Christ's atonement for sin be lacking, he must 
suffer everlasting torment in hell-fire. Each sect claims 
to be the exclusive exponent of the means appointed by 
God to enable man to escape from this torment. Out of, 
and by means of this vast fraud and shameless inroad 
upon men's credulity, priests and governments that sup- 
port them have filched from the toiling people millions of 



74 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

treasure, to support them in the exercise of their trade or 
profession. 

The idea of Hell, hell-fire, and eternal torment, when 
properly considered, is an idea that is alike blasphemous 
and illogical. Not so with the idea of eternal progress 
toward infinite knowledge and happiness, which is a 
natural deduction from our earthly experience. 

It is manifest from the nature of man, that if he could, 
in advance, read the future with certainty, it would unfit 
him for the affairs of this life and, by inference, for the 
part assigned him in the next. It is illogical to insist 
that God, in giving man his various faculties, did not 
intend that he should use those faculties to the best 
advantage, in all things pertaining to his duty, his happi- 
ness, and his welfare, both in relation to this life and the 
life to come. It is insisted, however, by the priesthood, 
that man must ignore his common sense and reasoning 
faculties, when he comes to deal with the affairs of the 
future life. The maintenance of this requirement can 
only be accounted for upon the idea, that the churches 
well know that, if man were to use all his faculties for the 
acquisition of knowledge and the ascertainment of truth 
in relation to his duty to his Maker, the hold which they 
have on the purses of the people would be weakened, or 
perhaps entirely lost. The only religion which has exer- 
cised its influence over the minds and conduct of men, 
from first to last — whether recognized or not — is that 
here advocated; and it will continue to exercise that 
influence, notwithstanding all the false teachings and 
adverse influences that have been, or may be brought to 
bear against it. 

A ship is swept along by the Gulf Stream, on the way 
to its destination, although those on board may not be 



INFLUENCE OF THE TRUE RELIGION. 75 

aware of the causes that are impelling it onward. They 
might indeed, from a want of knowledge on the subject, 
ascribe their onward course towards the wished-for haven 
to a cause totally different from the true one — even to a 
cause that was in reality retarding them, as theology 
retards religion. And more especially might this be the 
case with a portion of the voyagers, if there were others 
on board who from selfish motives were using means to 
deceive their fellow travellers as to the true source of 
their progress. In the same way, are not mankind car- 
ried onward by the vast stream of influences set in 
motion by God, from the first, upon which all the human 
family have been or will be embarked ? This tide, bear- 
ing man to the final home which God has prepared for 
him, no human power can stay. Man may, from short- 
sightedness, or false teaching, or both, b.e unmindful, or 
even unconscious of the true channel through which God's 
blessings are continually conferred upon him ; yet they 
flow on incessantly. God makes ample allowance for 
man's want of knowledge, and is patient and forbearing, 
ever educating him to broader truths, and leading him to 
a higher state. He has made sure too, that under the 
influence of Nature's teachings he will at last come 
within the fold prepared for him, and be enabled to 
appreciate aright the justice and wisdom of his great 
Benefactor. And He has further made sure that the true 
light, deep down in man's soul, and the faith and hope 
based upon the idea of one God, the Great First Cause of 
all, shall never be extinguished. Not all the false teach- 
ings or injurious influences of human power that were 
ever put in motion shall disturb this firm foundation. It 
is a germ of truth in the soul of man, which will most 
surely bring forth its legitimate fruits in God's own good 



76 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

time. It is nurtured and watered by Him, and it will 
enable man more and more to understand and appreciate 
His goodness, and advance nearer and nearer toward His 
perfections. The germ, in the seed of the fig tree, the 
vine, and every other plant and herb, is especially cared 
for by God, to the end that its vitality shall be preserved. 
In process of time, under the influences with which God 
has surrounded it, it is quickened and springs up into life. 
It is fostered and cherished by God, through Nature, and 
it flourishes and seemingly rejoices in the sunlight and 
the balmy air, ever pushing forward with increasing 
energy to the fulfilment of its destined office in the world. 
No human power can thwart God's purpose in this. He 
has willed — and His will is law — that the earth shall 
bring forth trees, shrubs, herbs, plants, flowers, and fruit, 
in order that this Eden in which He has placed man, 
may be filled with beauty for his sight and with abun- 
dance for his taste. But in this, as in other things, His 
bounty comes not single-handed. Through the same pro- 
cess by which He administers to man's sense of the sub- 
lime and beautiful, He supplies the physical necessities of 
all His creatures. Now, if He has so protected the germ 
in the mustard seed, and trained it with certainty to fulfil 
His design, shall He do less for man ? Yet, according to 
the teaching of the Churches, we are asked to believe 
that — of all the things created by God — man was left in 
the most precarious condition, placed in the greatest jeop- 
ardy, least likely to fulfil the intentions of his Maker, 
and condemned, for no fault of his own, to be eternally 
punished with torments too horrible to comprehend. 
How utterly inconsistent, and at variance with all the 
dispensations of God's providence, which man meets at 
every turn in his life and experience, is this idea ! God's 



GOD'S CARE FOR MAN. 77 

goodness and tender care of man are manifest in thou- 
sands of ways ; and the mildness of the punishment for 
a breach of His laws, and the evidently benign intention 
of such punishment, declare most emphatically that God, 
represented in any other light than as infinite goodness, 
is not the God who reveals Himself to the heart, the con- 
science, and the intellect of all men, at all times. 

So far as man's career is traced — which is no further 
than the grave — no discoverable advantage accrues to 
those who assent to the doctrine of the fall of man through 
Adam, and his restoration through Christ ; and no discov- 
erable disadvantage befalls those who have not arrived at 
such a belief. Those who belong to the latter class, and 
who make up the great majority or more than three- 
fourths of the human race, are as good citizens, as good 
husbands, as good wives, as good parents, as good chil- 
dren, as good neighbors, and are equally as cheerful, 
equally as happy, and equally as honest as the small 
remnant who believe, or who pretend to believe, in the 
fall of man through Adam. The Christian proclaims 
that all who do not embrace the dogmas, on which the 
Churches are built, are under the condemnation of God, 
and are not allowed to participate in the benefits of His 
goodness, in the world to come. Now, since there is no 
apparent difference in the distribution of such benefits in 
this world, it is fair to infer there is none in the other. 
But since we cannot trace man thither, except by logical 
induction, which is not subject to positive confirmation, 
the Churches make the most of man's ignorance in this 
respect — an ignorance no greater than their own — and 
promise him transcendent benefits in eternity as the 
reward of his faith, and for his support of the Churches. 



78 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Man, by nature and for wise purposes, Las a predisposi- 
tion to credulity. He loves the marvellous and the mys- 
terious. From this phase of his character proceeds the 
wonderful influence which the false doctrine of super- 
natural revelation has so long maintained over the human 
mind, through the incomprehensible mysteries contained 
in the Bible, based upon prophecy and miracles. The less 
man's reasoning faculties are developed, the greater is the 
attraction which the marvellous and miraculous have for 
him ; and the readier is the credence he gives to them. 
Hence it is the least enlightened of our race, both in this 
and every other age of the world, who are the most liable 
to be led astray by tales of sorcery, witchcraft, and ghosts. 
And have not witchcraft and supernatural appearances of 
departed spirits as great a claim on our credulity, as the 
miracles of the Bible ? The existing generation of men 
has advanced toward mental manhood, so far as to discard 
many of the superstitious fictions of the incipient stage 
of the human race ; and would emancipate itself still 
more rapidly and completely than it is doing, but for the 
struggle made against it by the Churches. And they are 
now the only obstacle to man's entire deliverance from 
such a thraldom. Seeing, however, how much their influ- 
ence, and their gain are endangered by the spread of 
learning and intelligence, they are the more tenacious 
and persistent in their efforts to uphold, and to root more 
deeply still into the minds of the people, a superstitious 
belief in the mysteries of the Bible. But this once mighty 
influence is on the wane. The light of irrefutable truth 
has dawned upon the mental vision of all the civilized 
nations upon earth ; and the darkness of theological error 
will soon be forever dispersed. Let the Churches, if 
they be wise, look to this matter in time. The true 



MAN'S INTELLECT EXPANDING. 79 

and lasting interest of the clergy lies in conforming with- 
out delay to the imperative intellectual demands of the 
age. Unadulterated truth must be taught from the 
pulpit — if anything at all. The people will not, much 
longer, continue to listen to doctrines and dogmas, for the 
belief of which there exists in man not one single innate 
faculty commending them either to the judgment or to the 
heart ; but which, on the contrary, cause his whole nature 
to revolt. 

The Churches tell us that man cannot answer the just 
demands of God, and that, therefore, by necessity, he 
merits God's everlasting condemnation, and his own utter 
destruction ; but the heart of man rejects the blasphemy, 
and realizes that God knows exactlv how much and what 
allowances to make in behalf of man's short-sightedness. 
Man is so far inferior to his Maker, that He will make 
every allowance in calling man to account for his mis- 
deeds. Indeed, God's justice demands that man's free 
agency, to which He Himself has set limits, should not 
be so far extended as that mans existence shouW possibly 
become a curse to him, or anything else than a blessing, 
either in time or in eternity. His manifest goodness in 
this world, to us and to all the various forms of animated 
life, is so self-evident, that all who honestly investigate 
the blessings and beauties of Nature, and correctly reason 
upon them, must be convinced of it. As we mount from 
Nature up to Nature's God, we find not only that " what- 
ever is, is right," and must be right, but that whatever is, 
is good, and must be good. Were it not for that which 
we ignorantly designate as evil, good would not be known 
to us, and would not be properly appreciated. So far as 
we are imperfect beings, we are sure to make mistakes 
and to suffer for them ; but the very correction must be 



80 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

seen to be beneficial to us ; because it teaches us not to 
offend against God's laws again ; and in this way the 
seeming evil is made instrumental in the training of man 
to his best estate. The same kindness, therefore, which 
is so eminently bestowed upon man in this world, will, we 
infer, be continued to him in the next. This we are 
bound to believe, because we know that God's goodness, 
like himself is infinite, and cannot fail or be withdrawn 
from any of His creatures — unless we admit God to be of 
changeable purposes, which we cannot do without denying 
His wisdom and perfection. 

The most obvious and natural idea of the happiness 
reserved for man in eternity is, that it shall be a con- 
tinuation and an augmentation of the purest and most 
ennobling joys which he has experienced in time ; that 
his soul, perpetually thirsting for truth and knowledge, 
shall be permitted to see and understand those great 
mysteries of God, which have been partially concealed 
from him on earth ; and that he shall forever approach 
nearer and nearer to the divine perfections, to which 
however he can never wholly attain ; and that every step 
of his infinite progression shall be attended with loftier 
delights than the constitution of his physical frame could 
ever have permitted him to enjoy while on earth. God 
hath endowed man with various qualities and capacities, 
adapted to his present life ; and made each a ministering 
angel to his happiness. Is not this an evidence that He 
will endow him in the future life with higher qualities 
and more enlarged capacities to comprehend, appreciate, 
and enjoy God's wisdom, goodness and glory, in an ever- 
advancing degree? The spirit of all men seems so to 
whisper ; and God has given them faith, that the high 
poetic reveries of the soul shall not be disappointed. 



ETERNAL HAPPINESS. SI 

These are things which God, indeed, has not permitted us 
to know ; but on the other hand He has not permitted us 
to be without a lively hope that we shall at some time 
enjoy them. There is no complete, positive, or mathe- 
matical proof, that what we call the soul is immortal. 
All that we can learn about it comes through our intui- 
tions, our instincts, and an innate consciousness of it, cor- 
roborated by the belief of all men, in all ages and in 
all countries, that a glorious eternity of some sort lies 
before us. If this be not the fact, as we fondly deem, 
then God has given to every human being a delusive 
faith in His kindness ; an abiding trust in His goodness, 
never to be realized. This is inconceivable ; it is at total 
variance with God's benign dispensations on our behalf 
here ; and. with the indubitable fact that it is impossible 
to destroy the smallest atom of matter that was ever 
created. Matter may be changed and transformed, but 
it cannot be annihilated ; and if this eternity is the 
appanage of the physical substances and elements of 
which the universe is composed, shall it not also be the 
appanage of the soul? We cannot believe otherwise. 
We accept the proofs with as much faith and as thorough 
a conviction as we have in accepting proofs of mathe- 
matical science, though they are not based so entirely 
upon mere reason, as upon something which we feel to be 
superior to reason, and a more direct utterance of the 
voice of God. This cannot be a vain imagining. The 
unwritten poetry — that whispers to us of a life beyond 
the grave, pervades all Nature, and even comes to us 
more audibly from the starry universe than from the 
earth — proclaims that Time, which is but the turning 
of the small globe upon which we live, is not the 
measure of that far-seeing soul and that ample intellect 
6 



82 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

which, though imprisoned for a while within the flesh, 
has so far transcended its carnal limits as to discover 
stars and whole systems so deep in the infinitudes qf 
space, that the light projected by them, according to sci- 
entific calculation, takes a time almost beyond man's 
comprehension to travel from their place in creation to 
ours. Such facts and such discoveries teach us that the 
soul, which aspires so high, is justified in aspiring; that 
it came from God, and must approach nearer to him for 
ever. The line of that eternal progression is influenced, 
in some degree, by the operation of causes within man's 
own control. 

Let those learned men, who are the chief dignitaries of 
the churches, look to the intellectual development of our 
times. They should be the allies, and not the foes, of 
Luman intellect. To them all the truths of science should 
be welcome, because they are divine. That true religion, 
which exists in the heart as well as in the soul, needs no 
fables to recommend it to our acceptance. The so-called 
sacred Books, to which they still call upon us to yield a 
slavish faith, should be acknowledged by them to be 
without that sanctity which cannot attach to them, if 
they be contradicted by Geology and by Astronomy, and 
by every new discovery of natural and physical truths. 
The stars alone are a perpetual reproof to the ignorant 
mythologies, with which the clergy still endeavor to mis- 
lead the people. Newton, Laplace, Leverrier, and Bosse, 
were greater teachers of religion than any Pope or Bishop, 
or other ecclesiastic, who ever lived or preached. If, 
instead of theological and doctrinal discourses founded 
upon historical errors and false ideas of God, the preachers 
and teachers, accepting the great truths of science, would 
preach God in all His works and religion in its purity, 



THE CLERGY SHALL ACCEPT TRUTH. 83 

conformably to the intelligence of the age — let the imme- 
diate consequences be what they might — their efforts 
would prove beneficial in the highest degree. Jesus so 
taught religion in the two commandments ; for which 
teaching he was crucified. God is ever teaching it in its 
fullness. The time is ripening for this development. 
Uneasiness and doubt sit within the assemblies of all 
mythological worshippers. It is not only the sheep, but 
the shepherds, who see the approaching change, and 
know it to be inevitable. 

Great thoughts are heaving in the world's wide breast ; 
The time is heaving with a mighty birth ; 
The old ideas fall : 
Men wander up and down in wild unrest ; 
A sense' of change preparing for the Earth 
Broods over all ! 

But not to me — oh, not to' me appear 

Perpetual glooms ; I see the heavenly ray ; 
I feel the healthful motion of the sphere ; 
I see the splendor of a brighter day. 
Ever since infant Time began, 
More or less darkness has been over man ; 
It rolls and shrivels up. It melts away ! 

The intellectual culture of the many, who are yearning 
for good, is more than a match for the learned priest-craft 
that domineered over the too credulous of former ages. 
The printing-press now speaks to the masses, and rescues 
them from the thraldom of the oracles that spoke of old. 

Theologians declare that, in order to make man conform 
to God's will, he must have that will proclaimed to him 
in special language either by speech or writing, and hence 
infer the necessity for a Bible. Let us probe a little into 
this assumed necessity. 



84 ONE RELIGION : MANY GREEDS- 

The most casual observer of animal life, if brought for 
a moment to dwell seriously on the subject, could not fail 
to acknowledge that God has a mode of instructing His 
creatures, which amply suffices for their requirements and 
His own glory. And if this be evident to the careless 
looker-on, the closer student will find a thousand curious 
proofs, alike in its fullness and its minuteness, that the 
original instructor must have been divine. But the 
routine of animal life being so far known and noted as to 
acquire among us the distinctive appellation of " natural," 
neither ordinary observer nor critical student dreams of 
attributing supernatural causes to any part of it. We 
speak of it as the course of Nature, the ordinance of the 
Almighty ; and there let it rest. No one imagines that a 
special revelation tells the migratory race of birds when 
and where the seasons are propitious for them, or that an 
inspired messenger goes down to the depths to warn cer- 
tain fish at certain periods that it were well for them to 
change their waters. We call it all, in a general way, 
"instinct;" while a few thinkers, perhaps, recognize in 
this self-same instinct the marvellous power and resources 
of God. 

Now, we hold that instinct is implanted in man, no less 
than in the brute creation. But the instincts which apply 
to man's spiritual nature is of an essentially different 
order. Animal instinct concerns itself only with life and 
the means of living; and this being its sole end, it is 
restricted thereto ; and the routine is limited, each after 
its kind. 

Instinct in man is, we say, of far higher quality. That 
it is not confined to a mere making provision for the 
flesh — as is the case with animals — is manifest from 
the infinite variety of human pursuits and the constant 



MORAL INSTINCTS. 85 

changes in human condition. " That it reaches up to 
something above and beyond this, to something intel- 
lectual and spiritual, to some mysterious but existing link 
between creature and Creator, is palpable, inasmuch as 
the recognition of an over-ruling Providence has been 
common among all races and in all ages whereof we have 
knowledge. To put it in plainer terms: instinct in ani- 
mals, becomes in man natural religion. And as instinct 
is. universal in the lower rank, so is natural religion uni- 
versal in the higher. Is there not, then, a pitiful under- 
rating of God's reach and ability, in the supposition that 
He limited to a chosen few the task of teaching scattered 
portions only of mankind their duty, and added super- 
natural contrivances to his broad and efficacious means of 
bringing men's souls into more and more sympathy with 
himself? God has revealed himself, indeed ; but his 
revelation is innate in man, and from the beginning. It 
is instinct, that teaches bird and beast how to provide for 
their physical wants. Instinct in man, pertaining to his 
spiritual nature, points to his duty to God, to himself, and 
to his fellow-creatures. Instinct or intuition, and educa- 
tion under the wholesome restraints and training inci- 
dent to God's unalterable laws — together with the natural 
attraction that causes man's spirit to gravitate in the direc- 
tion of His Maker's — cannot fail eventually to realize to 
man all, and more than all his fond imaginings and hopes 
as to the happiness that God has in store/ for him. 

Nor has God allowed any human soul to be without 
this dream of happiness beyond the grave, transcendently 
greater than any that this life permits. We cannot con- 
ceive it possible that He can disappoint, in the slightest 
degree, any such broad foreshadowing of his goodness 
That God has prompted man to lean upon him for solace, 



86 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

every human soul can testify. Who shall doubt the 
realization of this hope, since the author of it is the 
pilot to conduct to its consummation ? This spontaneous 
unborn faith in future happiness is broad-spread as the 
human race, and is based upon the One God, the God 
who knows no change, neither shadow of turning, and 
whose far-reaching intelligence and omnipotent power 
created and fashioned the universe. 

We say, this faith, so founded, over-rides or takes pre- 
cedence — whether it be noted for the moment, or not — of 
all the so-called faiths supposed to rest upon the imagined 
God of change and miracles. This faith may not always 
be equally luminous, but it shall never fail in its office of 
lighting and cheering our onward and still onward way 
toward the perfection of Him who caused its existence. 
All faith not springing from within, and not maintained 
in man in the absence or in despite of artificial teaching, 
lacks the stamp of genuineness that God ever imprints 
upon what he has ordained. He has ordained that every 
man shall, sooner or later, recognize and appreciate His 
blessing. Nothing less is consistent with God's determi- 
nate will and manifested perfection. 

The religion here advocated is God's regularly ap- 
pointed means of governing mankind. It is at once the 
oldest and the newest in the world. It dates from the 
first created man, and is recorded anew in each succeed- 
ing child that is born into the world. It is stamped 
indelibly on every fibre of his nature, without alteration 
or amendment — is ever fresh and new, and adapted to 
his every want. All men are guided and governed by 
it. It is God's great light shining into, and reflected 
from every soul of man. Whenever there is a soul to 
receive, there is light to pervade it. Such is God's good- 



IT GUIDES US UNPERCEIVED. 87 

ness and bounty. None can doubt the authorship of this 
religion ; nor can any question the sufficiency of the sup- 
ply of that which contributes to its exercise; or which 
makes it available to all men, at all times. Those who 
say that this light lures to evil and not to good — to the 
paths that run counter to God's design — that man is at 
enmity with God — should remember that God is the 
author of man's nature and propensities, and that there- 
fore they undertake to censure, not merely man's opinions, 
but the works and ways of God. 

Amid the contentions and clamor caused by the various 
antagonistic creeds, theologies, and dogmas, there are pro- 
pounded for the mere faith of man — each sect claiming 
the monopoly of the road to bliss — man is being so 
quietly conducted along the true path to his welfare and 
happiness, by a religion which admits of no antagonism — 
by laws that cannot clash, but which co-operate har- 
moniously, and move on majestically and silently to the 
accomplishment of God's purposes — that the means by 
which the result is reached are unobserved. Such is the 
case in relation to the motion of the earth, of which we 
all partake ; and yet we perceive it not, except through 
its results. It produces the various seasons, day and 
night, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter ; and 
by it the panorama of the heavens passes in succession 
before the delighted gaze of the whole human family. 
All alike enjoy these sights and blessings, whether they 
are aware that the immediate cause of them is due to the 
motions of the earth, or not. 

Some may not recognize the law that guides them; 
and, to this extent, their knowledge being more limited, 
their enjoyment may not be as full as that of others. 
But when applied to spiritual things, this is but a matter 



88 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

of time; every human soul will, sooner or later, arrive at 
such a knowledge and experience of God's goodness, wis- 
dom, and glory, as to induce all to thank and praise and 
worship Him with all their hearts and powers. Our 
capacity for happiness will increase, with our training and 
education ; and as all must pass under God, through the 
same process of training, all must at last arrive at the 
same appreciation of His goodness and glory — some, it 
may be, by a more tortuous course, and by the experience 
of greater trials and afflictions ; but none the less effec- 
tually to the accomplishment of God's design. What we 
mean is, that God's mode of training can never fail to 
accomplish the end He has in view. It must prove 
effectual. All will experience the same results, by having 
been made obedient to the same laws. The same causes, 
which operate upon all alike, will produce the same effects 
in all ; else God would not be that impartial Being that 
we conceive Him to be, which is impossible. When a 
human soul is brought into existence, it is brought into 
existence for eternity, and however little progress it may 
make in the right direction during its sojourn on earth — 
whether it be taken hence in infancy or old age, or 
whether it have advanced tardily or rapidly in this state 
of probation — it matters not, this being, as we said, but 
a matter of time. God has ensured that it cannot fail in 
being brought to know and worship Him according to His 
good-will and pleasure, and to the attainment of supreme 
bliss. And as to the mode whereby man is called upon, 
while here, to exhibit his gratitude for the blessings and 
bounties bestowed upon him by his maker, let us see 
what sort of gratitude is the most acceptable to God. 

Jesus, whom we admit to have been a very good 
teacher of natural religion, and who will be taken by 



GOOD WORKS. 89 

most readers as excellent authority in this respect, has 
given us some advice through his teaching to the scribes 
and Pharisees. When he was asked, "Why walk not thy 
disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat 
bread with unwashen hands?" his reply was : " Well hath 
Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written. 
This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart 
is far from me. Howbeit, in vain do they worship me, 
teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For 
laying aside the commandments of God, ye hold the tra- 
dition of men, as the washing of pots and cups — and 
many other such like things ye do. Ye reject the com- 
mandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition, 
making the word of God of none effect through your tradi- 
tion which Ve have delivered ; and many such like things 
o ye. 
From this we should infer, that this mere lip-service — 
this religion of mere ceremonies — is not only not the 
worship which God requires, but that it is a hindrance 
thereto. Forms and ceremonies may be well as mere 
preliminaries or stepping stones to worship. They may 
tend to quicken and train to good acts the germ in man's 
soul whence all his goodness springs. But if they do not 
exercise a beneficial influence on him in relation to the 
right performance of the every- day duties of life — if they 
do not incite him to the actual achievement of good 
deeds — they are of no avail in the sight of God. Under 
their influence the religious sentiments may expand ; but 
if they be not productive of something more, they are not 
in accordance with God's high purposes in relation to 
man. Can man expect to be the recipient of God's boun- 
ties without his doing the work which God has required 
of him? Action is the order of nature, and an active 



90 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

life of good works — the doing to others as we would be 
done by, with a profound sense of dependence upon God — 
is the whole duty of man. The line between that which 
is mere church-form, and that which is the substance of a 
religious life, should be distinctly marked. Instead of 
this the non-essentials are put in the foreground ; hence, 
man's religious instincts and common sense should turn 
him from mere barren ceremonies to the legitimate field 
of action. The worship dictated by nature alone meets 
the spiritual wants of man. This is really the only com- 
mon ground on which all can stand harmoniously. It 
has an inherent vitality and force, which will, under the 
enlarging civilization and mental progress of the day, 
drive superstition and priest-craft from the field, and dis- 
perse the dark clouds which have so long and so gloomily 
overshadowed the true light. 

There exists in man an innate or spontaneous faith in 
the eternal goodness and justice of the divine ruler — a 
conviction that man's best interest is forwarded by his 
serving God according to His universal teachings. No 
power on earth can obliterate these teachings, or mate- 
rially retard their influence, however they may seem to 
be smothered in some, by the mass of theological dogmas. 
It still governs all men's actions, whether they acknow- 
ledge it or not, or whether they are aware or not that it is 
the sole controlling influence which is, actuating them for 
good, and restraining them from evil. The work of the 
age upon which we have entered is not to found a reli- 
gion — God did that effectually at the first — it is to expose 
the errors which it has been attempted to be substituted 
for true religion. Every je^r furnishes additional proof, 
and carries conviction to increased numbers of the rising 
generation, that the Bible is full of untruths. This, irre- 



TRUE BASIS OF RELIGION. 91 

sistibly, leads to free and increased enquiry in relation to 
all that is recorded therein. A new spirit is abroad. 
Men no longer ignore their common sense, in judging of 
the claims of the Bible to reliability. Under this mode 
of scrutiny, conclusions and convictions adverse to Bible 
record are accumulating year after year. Learning, scien- 
tific research, and free thought are fast opening the eyes 
of all classes to the imposition to which they have been 
subjected by the teachings of a mere dogmatical faith. 
Those who say that the Bible must be taken in all its 
parts, as the only revealed word of God, say also, that 
man's natural faculties are utterly corrupt, depraved, and 
at enmity with God. If this be so — if man's mind is so 
wholly corrupt, and all his conclusions in relation to reli- 
gion are so wholly unreliable — how can he comprehend 
aright the doctrines of the Bible and the Churches, which 
are not only at variance with all his intellectual faculties, 
but are instinctively repulsive. How is this innate con- 
viction of the fallacy of the Bible doctrines to be over- 
come ? Any proofs offered to man's reason, or any 
appeals made to his conscience, are ineffectual, if the 
faculties to which they are addressed are as vicious and 
incapable of sound conclusions as they are represented to 
be by the Church. 

The Church doctrines carry with them their own refuta- 
tion, if logically examined. If addressed for the first time 
to a mature, well balanced, and cultivated mind, would 
they not, at once, be rejected as unworthy of the slightest 
credence? This is well understood; hence, the effort, 
which is constantly being made, to imbue with them, the 
minds of children, and of others equally unsuspecting and 
pliable. 



92 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

If the natural consciousness of mankind is the true 
basis of religion, and the hope of a blessed immortality, 
then it has a foundation which defies criticism — and 
which is beyond all possible apprehension of ever being 
disturbed. No higher foundation than God, the father of 
all, is possible ; and no faith can be so satisfying and 
thorough, as that which is the inevitable result of the 
promptings of that innate consciousness which is most 
assuredly of God. All faith, based on ideas or concep- 
tions derived from traditions of the supernatural, is but as 
chaff in comparison with that derived from the immediate 
promptings of God to each individual. It is inconceivable 
how it is possible to doubt this ; or that the instruction, 
which God has given to all alike, is not the true guide to 
faith and to the doing of His will by His creatures. In 
fact, there is no faith or belief contrary to this, which has 
sufficient substance in it to control any man materially or 
to modify his conceptions of his religious duties. Hence 
all the faiths, which men have founded on other than the 
intuitions of the soul, go for nothing, and are impotent in 
respect to the eventual happiness of the soul. They are 
the result of education, of the instilling of error into the 
minds of men from early childhood, and had their origin 
in the greed for power and money. All views in relation 
to religion derived from the Bible and other sources, and 
which cannot be deduced from man's natural faculties 
independent of the Bible, must of necessity be open to 
the critical investigation of history. The closest, most 
advanced, and the most learned, of this is the most fatal 
to such doctrines. As an example of this, let the works 
of the Bishop of Natal be consulted. He establishes most 
conclusively, that the first six books of the Bible — the 
corner-stone of the whole canon — were not written by 



EARLY HISTORY OF MAN. 93 

their supposed author, and that they are not historically 
true, much less divinely inspired and infallible. 

Bishop Colenso's work can hardly be over-estimated 
for importance, when we consider its inevitable influence 
on the opinions of the masses. Of course, the fact of his 
established ability, his personal character, and his position 
as a dignitary of the Church, has had considerable influ- 
ence in adding to the immediate publicity of his work. 

Religion founded on human consciousness brings into 
requisition, and into harmonious union for its right under- 
standing and practice, all the faculties and functions 
of our nature ; not so with the theology founded on the 
Bible. A blind faith is there demanded in relation to 
doctrines which neither the head, the heart, nor the con- 
science can take any part in confirming. A conception 
of God, formed through all the faculties and functions of 
man acting in conjunction, presents Him as a being whom 
to believe in is to adore, and whom to adore is to obey. 

While all men have a love of the novel and the mar- 
vellous, few men naturally give credence to the miraculous 
and supernatural. The human mind, in virtue of a consti- 
tutional bias, is prepared from the first to count on the 
constancy of nature's sequences which experience ever 
confirms. Similar causes always produce similar effects. 
This is indispensable to the being led through experience 
to any system of truth by which to guide our actions ; yet 
those who under the teaching of the church from child- 
hood, have given a tacit assent to doctrine of especial 
enactments of God at the instance of prayer or other 
cause, to provide for certain emergencies, have not even 
in this our enlightened day, the moral courage to deny 
altogether what they could not bring themselves to 
believe — that is to say, what did not appear to them to 



(hi 



94 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

be in harmony with the dictates of reason, and the laws 
of nature. In order to know what man is by nature and 
apart from erroneous teaching, we ought to know what 
has been under the various theological teachings that 
have prevailed in different ages and in the several quar- 
ters of the earth. The history of these distant ages and 
distant men — apparently so foreign to our modern inter- 
ests — assumes a new charm, so soon as we know that it 
tells us the story of our own race, of our own family — nay, 
of our own selves. History gives us the thread which con- 
nects the present with the past. Many scenes, it is true, 
are lost beyond the hope of recovery; and the most inter- 
esting of all the opening scenes of the childhood of the 
human race, are known to us by such small fragments 
only, that they do but make every word the more wel- 
come, that bears the impress of the early days of man- 
kind. So far as we can trace back the footsteps of man, 
even on the lowest strata of history, we see that the divine 
gift of a sound and sober intellect, and all the kind and 
gentle emotions belonged to him from the very first. 

The human mind has an inborn reverence for the past, 
that it may the .better divine the future, to ferret out 
which is the ruling passion of man, since the vast won- 
drous ways of God lay before him, and God as a magnet 
is ever drawing him thither. As man the more and more 
obeys this divine incentive, he the more and more per- 
ceives God's goodness, and discards former false views, 
and discharges many myths because they are not in har- 
mony with his purer conceptions of God, and therefore 
must be false. 

The mythic form of expression which prevailed in 
earlier ages is giving way before comparative philology, 
which has placed in our hands a telescope of such power, 



STUDY OF OTHER THEOLOGIES. 95 

that the mist which the theologians would hold before our 
eyes is too thin to prevent God's perfections appearing the 
more and more to us. He is no longer a God of ven- 
geance, but a God of infinite goodness. 

Paul says, " Prove all things ; hold fast that which is 
good." Many are the advantages to be derived from a 
careful study of other theologies, creeds and faiths, than 
our own ; but the greatest of all is, that it teaches us to 
appreciate more truly what it is that constitutes true 
religion. Let us see what other nations as well as our 
own have had and still have in the place of religion ; let 
us examine the prayers, the worship, the theology even 
of the most highly civilized races, — the Greeks, the 
Romans, the Hindus, the Persians, — and we shall then 
understand more thoroughly what it is, that they all 
agree upon as true, and what it is that they differ in, and 
in this way be enabled to discriminate between the essen- 
tial and the non-essential in the diversified things which 
have been deemed worship at various times and in 
various countries. 

Those who would limit the riches of God's goodness, 
and would hand over the largest portion of the human 
race to inevitable perdition, without having made them- 
selves acquainted with the religion of those they condemn, 
do at the same time impute to God injustice, upon no 
better evidence than theology originating in superstition 
and priest-craft--- they use ignorance as evidence, as 
though it were knowledge. It is true that until very 
lately the sacred books of three of the most important 
systems of faith, those of the Brahmans, the Buddhists, 
and the Parsees, were totally unknown in Europe, but 
this furnishes no valid excuse for those who consign all 
who do not embrace their own theology to eternal tor- 



96 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

ment. The sincere and earnest seeker after truth (though 
he may have a deference for the Christian theology) as he 
becomes acquainted with the history and habits of the 
various great nations into which mankind is divided, 
cannot but ask himself the question whether if the 
heathen, (as they are disparagingly termed) should judge 
of us as the Christians judge of them by the worst phases 
of human character, (and that exaggerated,) if we would 
stand any better in their estimation than they do in the 
estimation of the Christians. 

If the Indians had formed their notions of the influ- 
ence of Christianity on man from the soldiers of Cortez 
and Pizarro, or if the Hindus had studied the principles 
of Christian morality in the lives of Clive and Warren 
Hastings, or, to take a less extreme case, if a Mohamme- 
dan, or Buddhist living in Christian countries, were to 
test the practical working of Christian charity by the 
spirit displayed in the journals of our various religious 
parties, their notions of Christianity would be about as 
correct as the ideas which thousands of educated Christians 
entertain of the character of the heathen religion. Even 
Christianity has been depraved into Jesuitism and Mor- 
monism, and if we claim the right to appeal to the gospel 
as the only test by which our faith is to be judged, we 
must grant a similar privilege to Mohammedans and 
Buddhists, and to all who possess a written, and, as they 
believe, supernaturally revealed authority for the articles 
of their faith. 

We cannot comprehend how any one who worships God 
in spirit and in truth, who holds that he is perfect in all 
things, that his goodness knows no bounds, can subscribe 
to the dogma that God determined from the first to elect 
a chosen few, as the recipients of everlasting bliss, and 



INNATE PROMPTINGS OF THE HEART. 97 

consigned much the largest portion of mankind to per- 
petual torment, for no fault of their own, but at the 
instance of an arbitrary will, the justice of which no man 
can comprehend. If the holding of such faith, if ascrib- 
ing such character to God, is not sinning against Him, and 
debasing ourselves, we cannot conceive what is. God is 
a God of infinite goodness, not of vengeance ; to be 
loved, not to be feared ; to be worshipped for love's sake, 
not through fear of everlasting punishment. 

How beautiful does this incentive to the worship of 
God appear, in comparison with that which wrings assent 
from us by the threat of torment ! And more particu- 
larly when we take into consideration, that this threat of 
torment involves only a faith coming to us from uncertain 
authority, and repugnant alike to our innate perceptions 
of love and duty. 

To present so dark and hideous a picture of God and 
of His mode of drawing men to Him, presupposes that 
there is not enough in the picture that God presents of 
Himself, to win man to love and worship Him. 

The law implanted within the nature of man to regu- 
late his physical system is expressed by the sensations, 
propensities, promptings, appetites, tastes, and checks, 
that God originally gave him, and that are indispensable 
to the perpetuity of the human race. In like manner, 
the soul of each individual must be guided, in its pursuit 
after happiness and well-being, by similar laws, which 
God has implanted within his moral nature ; namely, by 
the innate, instinctive, irresistible promptings of the hean 
and spirit, after what is good, and true, and just, and 
kind, and lovely. Indeed, we all know by the necessity 
of the case, that man has a consciousness and conviction 
within him that he possesses these perceptions and incen- 
7 



98 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

tives, and that they are the infallible guides which God 
has placed there for his instruction and warning. The 
more faithful he is therefore to these instructions and 
warnings, the more happy he will be — just as the more 
faithful he is to the rules regulating the health of his 
body, the more sound will be his constitution, and the 
freer he will be from disease. To love God is to love 
His attributes ; and the germs of that love being within 
us, all we have to do is to cultivate them, and to make 
them active. To strive to imitate Him, or, rather, to 
inculcate in our hearts a love of truth, justice, and good- 
ness — the prime traits of character in the Almighty — is 
the worship and homage that are most acceptable to Him. 
But God is represented in the Bible, and by those who 
adhere to its teachings, as being endowed with attributes, 
purposes, and modes of action wholly inconsistent with 
the existence of such laws and incentives, to the acquisi- 
tion and cultivation of virtue in the heart of man. The 
Bible is, moreover, utterly irreconcilable with itself. The 
Old and New Testaments, particularly, are at variance 
with each other, and on some of the most vital points. 
God Himself is represented as a Being endowed with the 
most opposite traits of character. In some places He is 
said to be a God of infinite goodness, love, and justice ; 
in others, a God of hatred, revenge, cruelty, and injustice. 
He is represented as so unjust as to consign to everlasting 
punishment all those who are not His favorites ; or, who 
will not, or cannot, believe in the very impracticable doc- 
trine that Jesus must save them, — and that in a way 
which they cannot understand. And yet such incongrui- 
ties are the very opposite to the doctrines of Jesus, whom 
Christian theologians profess to rely upon, as the best and 
most infallible guide to man. For, with the exception of 



THE DEVIL. ".99 

some ideas which he entertained toward the latter part of 
his career, to the effect that he was the Messiah, and that 
he would come again at some future time to take posses- 
sion of his kingdom, and reward his followers, and punish 
his enemies by bidding them to depart forever from his 
presence and province, which he denominated everlasting 
punishment— apart from this, we say, his religion was as 
much in unison with that written on man's heart and 
nature, as it could be. It was in perfect accordance with 
that which has just been advocated, and which is innate 
in man, and only needs to be developed by stimulation 
and cultivation. It was a reflection of God's laws, ope- 
rating in the hearts of men. Whatever of good there is 
in man comes from this source and teaching, and from no 
other. 

Again, the idea of the existence of a devil, and of the 
baneful influence ascribed to him over the minds, conduct 
and happiness of man, is in direct contradiction to God's 
infinite power, justice, and goodness. 

If God created man with a free-will ; and in His good- 
ness allowed him the exercise of his free-will by setting 
before him things, all good in themselves, but by the use 
or abuse of which he would experience good or evil 
results ; and if in the exercise of his free agencv man 
sometimes chooses the evil — this is but the result of his 
short-sightedness, and the abuse of his free agency. It 
furnishes no grounds for the idea of the existence of such 
an evil spirit, as that which is said to run counter to the 
nature of God, and to tempt man to sin against Him. 
The idea of a Supreme Devil, or God of Evil, originated 
with the Persians, centuries before the Christian Theology 
was ever thought of. Yet it is curious to notice, in pass- 
ing, how differently the Church has treated the Persian 



100 ONE RELIGION: MANY GREEDS. 

Div, and the Cre God, who is common to all faiths. Out 
of the one true God, it has made a triform and triune 
Deity, scarcely less fantastic than certain divinities wor- 
shipped by Pagans ; while the Div, or Satan, is allowed to 
maintain his potential unity, and figures in the Church's 
cheerful programme for this world, as going about like a 
roaring lion seeking whom he may devour ; and in the 
next, as executioner-in-chief to an extremely wrathful 
judge. 

Now it is against all reason to suppose, for a moment, 
that there is such an evil principle so embodied, and 
therefore Div cannot be admitted as a medium of tempta- 
tion to man. When man errs, it is not the result of an 
innate viciousness ; nor because he has anything placed 
before him which contains properties that are evil in 
themselves. It is because he is either ignorant of the 
nature of those properties, or because being careless or 
reckless in the exercise of his free agency, he indulges too 
freely in their use. Education only in addition to his 
innate perceptions, can regulate him in this matter. And 
to this end God has ordained that, whenever man over- 
steps the bounds of propriety, he shall suffer for it at 
once ; or within such time that the punishment for delin- 
quencies that are incident to man, while in the flesh, may 
serve the purpose of correction and warning. In this 
way, God's punishments, termed by the Church, " the 
vengeance of the Almighty," are all applied in mercy. 
There would be confusion and inconsistency and injustice 
in the idea, that man is to be chastised in a future state 
of existence for crimes committed in this, there can be 
no temptation beyond the grave to commit crimes that 
specially appertain to this life ; and, therefore, such pun- 
ishment would be retrospective and totally useless for 



PUNISHMENT NOT RETROSPECTIVE. 101 

God's sole end of training and improvement. His is not 
punishment deferred. Neither is punishment by His laws 
appropriate after the offender has corrected himself. God's 
punishment, we repeat, is for the correction of the fault 
committed, with reference to future amendment. It is 
not — it would be absurd to say that it is— eternal pun- 
ishment for faults which God notes down, and that He 
inflicts it in a revengeful spirit at some future time when 
it may be presumed that even the memory of their com- 
mittal has passed away. No, this is unworthy of infinite 
goodness ; and we hold it to be entirely irrational. The 
bare idea that God could for any offence, or for any cause 
whatsoever, determine that any of His creatures should 
be irrecoverably tormented, upsets at once the idea of the 
whole nature and perfections of God, and makes Him — 
not what the Bible describes Him to be, in some places, 
a God of love — but what it describes Him to be in other 
places, "a consuming fire," a revengeful, hateful, and 
malignant monster. How Christian people, who have 
any appreciation of the goodness and beauty of His char- 
acter, can so debase Him, we are at a loss to under- 
stand. We can entertain no possible idea, in relation to 
God, other than that of His perfection. Hence, as per- 
fection embraces all goodness, justice, and order, and as 
man's conception of these qualities — is of God's creating, 
it follows that man's ideas of good and evil — which are 
indissolubly associated with these qualities, are in the 
main, in accordance with God's own teaching. 

All the creeds and theologies of the Bible and the 
Churches, which man's conscience rejects, and in which 
all the faculties of his mind combined fail to recognize, 
God's goodness, must, of necessity, be untrue. Shall 
traditional authority alone reverse all this? God has 



102 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. * 

decreed otherwise. Men deceive themselves, when they 
give a formal or pretended adherence to such teachings. 
They will not be of the slightest service to men, either 
here or hereafter. Whenever such errors cease to be 
instilled into the pliant minds of children, and others, 
who are not accustomed to think for themselves, then will 
they be consigned to oblivion — their proper place. Then 
will the religion, which is an integral part of man, and 
which nature stimulates with never-failing effect, be left 
unadulterated with such unseemly dross as the theologians 
would heap upon it. 

That happiness is the true and normal condition of life, 
and misery the exception, is evidenced in a thousand 
ways. All animated beings, whether rational or irra- 
tional, seek it, intuitively. As a rule of almost universal 
application, those who live the most joyful, buoyant, and 
happy lives, live the longest. Pleasurable sensations 
also, both mental and physical, not only attend all the 
duties and functions of life, but the legitimate exercise of 
every faculty affords its own peculiar pleasure ; pain may 
sometimes result ; but this is the extraordinary, and not 
the ordinary, rule. In the aggregate, the preponderance 
is largely in favor of pleasure. Pleasure, resulting from 
the performance of the duties of life, evidently springs 
from a double source. First, it is a spontaneous emana- 
tion from divine goodness, as a free-will gift to his crea- 
tures ; and secondly, it is an incentive and guide to the 
requirements of peace and self-preservation, and to the 
practice of benevolence, love, friendship, and all other 
kindly impulses. 

The happiness that man realizes from conscious exist- 
ence, may rationally be taken as a guarantee that it is his 
normal condition ; and whatever God addresses to his 



HAPPINESS OF THIS LIFE. 103 

reason is never in vain or without a beneficent object. 
Man has implanted within him, by God, a religious 
instinct or tendency to glorify him. To live an innocent 
and joyous life is one mode of thanking God for existence. 
The insects that sport in the sunshine, the lambs that 
gambol in the fields, the birds that warble their merry or 
plaintive songs in the trees, and the children in their 
bright and gladsome spirits while at play, all thank God 
for their existence, in His own appointed way. With 
regard to these last, God has provided, through the laws 
of nature, for their guidance and care in a more marked 
manner ; and man, who has come to riper years and is 
more under the control of reason, may well learn a lesson 
from them. To inculcate the idea that a melancholy 
spirit and a gloomy walk through life are more acceptable 
to God than the cheerful heart' — which God is ever, in ten 
thousand ways, exhilarating, is an impediment to true 
religion. God intended that all His creatures should live 
serene and happy lives. This is pre-eminently apparent 
from the allurements so lavishly strewed in the path of 
all, to win them back from gloom and sorrow to sunshine 
and gladness. Cheerfulness begets cheerfulness ; pain is 
exhaustive, tends to its own cessation. The action of the 
organs, in the production of pleasure, is promotive of their 
development and increased capacity. The same cannot 
be said of pain ; therein the reverse is the rule. Pleasure 
tends to its own augmentation and perpetuity. Pain 
benumbs the nerves, and works its own diminution or 
extinction. Pain gives warning of impending dangers 
to life and happiness. Pleasure trains to religion and a 
blissful eternity. Such is the voice of God within us, 
and such is the voice of nature without us. But let it be 
borne in mind that the happiness, here spoken of, is that 



104 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

which is consistent with virtue, when indulged in to a 
rational or legitimate extent. Man may run into excess 
in the pursuit of happiness, or he may indulge in vice and 
dissipation, thinking happiness lies therein. In either 
case, the result will be the reverse of what he expects, 
for the choicest blessings of life are only precious when 
used in moderation. The vital and unextinguishable 
sense of right and wrong, the love of good, and the 
abhorrence of evil, which God has implanted in man's 
nature, together with the system of perpetual training 
through rewards and punishments which He has estab- 
lished must, and will ultimately prevail, and insure the 
ascendancy and triumph of the good, the right, and the 
true, against all adverse influences. Any other idea than 
this is an imputation against the righteousness of God's 
purpose, and the perfection of His work in creating man. 
When man brings to bear all the faculties of his mind — 
reason as well as instinct — with a view of ascertaining 
God's will and purposes in relation to him, and his proper 
duty to God, the result must be a more satisfying, a 
sounder, and a more abiding faith in the correctness of 
the conclusions arrived at, than can possibly be the case 
when his several faculties are at variance on the subject. 
A faith predicated on the infallibility of the Bible, which 
in many instances runs counter to itself, is not a safe guide 
to the future destiny of an immortal spirit, thirsting for 
enlarged supplies of knowledge and holiness. 

What is termed evil in connection with the spiritual or 
mental part of man, results from his not being perfect, as 
God is perfect. This is a necessity. The creature must 
be lower than the Creator. But the enquiry, not unnatu- 
rally presents itself — why has God placed man so low ? 
Why has He allowed so much seeming evil to exist that 



MAN'S TRUST IN GOD. 105 

man's happiness and well being are apparently put in 
jeopardy ? Why was man not endowed, at his creation, 
with a free agency so limited as materially to diminish 
the evil that now attends him ? These are questions 
which are altogether beyond our present understanding. 
The proper answer is known only to God ; but that it is 
best to be as it is, there can be no doubt. It is incon- 
ceivable that what God has done involves other than the 
greatest possible good. Man is to comprehend so much 
of God's purposes or ways, as is necessary for his good 
and happiness while in this life in order to prepare him 
for the next. God's infinite perfections guarantee this; 
and His benevolent purposes, in creating man, are beyond 
the possibility of question. To feel such trust in God as 
this acknowledgment implies, is man's highest privilege, 
and his indispensable solace. God has given him this 
abiding confidence, with its attendant charm of reliance, 
through such means as admit of no failure. A majority of 
mankind may never proclaim it in words ; but neverthe- 
less each and every human being, that ever came to con- 
sciousness, proclaims it in thousands of ways that are 
pleasing to God. The multitudes of cheerful spirits, and 
bright and happy upturned faces, that we meet daily, 
exhibit a never flagging hope of better things to come. 
This blessed hope is an emanation from God, to cheer us 
onward; and it betokens more and more precious trea- 
sures in store for us hereafter. For God can neither 
deceive, nor engender delusive hopes, to cheat or mislead 
his creatures. 

Time, with its never ceasing tread, hurries man to his 
unseen destiny, and yet he trembles not, nor fears. Let all 
bless God in their hearts, that such is the glorious reward 
of this implict trust — founded in the depths of each human 



106 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

soul, echoed from heart to heart, and chimed throughout 
all nature by its every aspect and mood. It must all be 
well for those who have the great, the just, the perfect 
God for their pilot and sponsor ; and, vast as is the differ- 
ence between the perfection of God and the frailty of 
short-sighted man, yet man is still encouraged to make 
efforts — though feeble they may be — to approach God's 
goodness and knowledge, and to start on the high career 
of assimilating himself to God's perfection. He finds that 
at each step he gains new accessions of strength, brighter 
light, and stronger aspirations and impulses to press 
onward. This encouragement and this help come from 
Him who knows the vastness of the object aimed at, the 
means to be used, and the degree of success that awaits 
the seemingly futile effort. These conceptions open to our 
view a prospect of stupendous magnificence and glory. 
They show that it is in reserve for man to progress through 
countless ages, adding knowledge to knowledge, and excel- 
lence to excellence, and to be ever approaching nearer and 
nearer to God's perfect holiness. They intimate that man 
is permitted to be an active and free agent, under God's 
supervision, in contributing to his own advancement and 
the carrying out of God's benign purposes. May not this 
view, to some extent, illustrate the wisdom of God in 
placing man so low, and with such a glorious career 
before him? May not the sum total of man's happiness 
be greater, as he is ever emerging from a dimmer to a 
brighter light — from one stage of happiness to another, 
still higher — ever advancing in his aims and longings for 
an existence far above, and superior to this, where he will 
be blessed with an increased knowledge of the mysteries 
of creation and God's wondrous ways? Does not this 
accord with what we know of our own natures and expe- 



PAIN— A BLESSING. 107 

rience here? Is not our appreciation of the things 
around us assisted by contrast? Are not our very plea- 
sures heightened by expectation ? Each aim we have 
accomplished, begets higher aims, nobler purposes and 
increased energies, if we are but true to ourselves and our 
innate promptings and inspirations. Each and every 
gloomy, dark foreboding that lies in the path of life will 
ultimately, under God's inscrutable providence, be made 
subservient to our welfare and happiness. This is con- 
stantly being illustrated, during our brief sojourn on 
earth ; and to an extent, and in ways so mysterious and 
unlooked-for, that the evidence of our senses leads us to 
the same conclusions as does faith, based upon God's wis- 
dom, goodness, and justice, and manifested throughout all 
His works. God seems to take delight in making dark- 
ness available and subservient to the appreciation of the 
splendor of His works, and to a reverence and worship of 
Himself. The high sense of beauty, and the pious emo- 
tions that spring up within us on viewing the countless 
stars spangling the firmament, would be lost to us — but 
from being contrasted with the darkness of the night. — 
Viewed from the shaded side of earth and of life, the true 
glory of heaven is better seen, and the value of God's 
goodness and wisdom is more appreciated. 

That species of evil which is denominated pain, and 
which relates to the physical, or material part of man, is 
unmistakably ordained of God for man's ultimate good. 
Matter, unlike the mind or spirit of man, is destined to 
dissolution and to a return to dust. Man, by his intui- 
tions and by the other faculties of his mind, desires, and 
is led to the preservation of the body, to the fullest extent 
practicable. Without the instrumentality of pain, man 
would not be able to do his body the good offices and ser- 



108 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

vices which he does now, and which are indispensable to 
the continuation of his species, even for but a very brief 
space of time. Each and every sensation of bodily pain 
is a warning that the welfare of the body is endangered, 
and requires the good offices of its co-partner — the intel- 
lect — in its behalf. This monitor, pain, therefore, of all 
others, is the one most likely to be recognized and obeyed; 
and, in general, as the danger is more imminent, so is the 
monitor more persistent in his demands for an immediate 
attention to his warnings. As a general rule, whatever 
pertains to the health, vigor, and preservation of the body 
is attended with more or less pleasure ; while whatever 
tends to its destruction is painful. We not only, there- 
fore, have a sleepless sentinel on duty, to proclaim 
approaching danger ; we have premiums offered for 
attending to the legitimate wants of our own bodies, and 
for striving to promote our own happiness. How beauti- 
fully and forcibly does this illustrate God's benevolence 
and more than fatherly care over us! The contemplation 
of it adds confirmation to confirmation, and faith to faith — 
if such a thing be possible — that man's greatest ultimate 
good is perfectly consistent with his seemingly lowly and 
apparently unfortunate condition here, moral and physical. 
It is an unmistakable evidence that God's consummate 
wisdom can bring beauty out of seeming uncomeliness, 
and clear up and disperse all the apparent gloom and 
imperfection, in His infinite perfection and brightness. 

In the present world, man — so far as his body is con- 
cerned — is subject to casualty and the destructive powers 
of nature, equally with the lower animals. But as this 
life is only the beginning of an existence that will never 
end, and is under the Divine guidance, one can but have 
faith that it matters little at what period of time the 



MAN'S INDIVIDUALITY HEREAFTER. 1Q9 

transit, to the higher life, takes place. If it were impor- 
tant, life would not have been subject to the numerous 
contingencies that now beset it. And yet the teaching 
of God through our instincts, is to cling to life while we 
may, leaving the time of our departure to casualties 
beyond our control. In reflecting upon this, how com- 
forting is it to know that we are the objects of God's 
goodness and care. We see but the threshold of our 
destined existence. We have but to strive unceasingly, 
and never to weary in well-doing, confidently leaving the 
issue to God. 

But this subject of our existence here and hereafter, 
and of the connection between the two periods, may well 
bear to be further contemplated. This life, then, and this 
earth are but the time and place, the when and where, 
each human soul embarks for eternity. The longest life 
is but as a moment of time, in comparison with the soul's 
duration. The earth is but the stage whereon each 
human soul, among the myriads that are launched into 
eternity, is moulded, and — like the person — individually 
endowed with an identity peculiar to itself and resembling 
none other precisely. The belief that our individuality 
and identity in this world shall be preserved to us in the 
world to come — that we shall connect the consciousness of 
ourselves beyond the grave with that of ourselves here, 
and be so recognizable by others — is corroborated by a 
fact in our human experience, that cannot be gainsaved. 
Millions upon millions of inhabitants come and go upon 
the face of the earth ; and yet no two among them bear 
such close resemblance as to prevent intimate acquaint- 
ances singling them out from all others. And as with 
the body, so with the soul. We, none of us have, an 
exact spiritual counterpart — a fact that is obvious to all 



110 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

students of the inner man, though not palpable at a 
moment's glance, as is the corporeal divergence. Now 
this being the case — the extreme difference between the 
most dissimilar persons being so small that they may be 
classed as a whole, and yet so distinctly marked that 
each stands out as it were alone — is it possible not to see 
herein a purposed design of God? And to what purpose 
can this point, more rational and more in accordance with 
His perfect plans, than that the probation, intended to 
lead man Heavenward, and barely dawning here on the 
longest-lived, shall continue when we go hence, through 
what is our morning, up to the splendor of an everlasting 
day ? The more we contemplate God's wisdom and the 
harmonious workings of his systems, the more are we 
confirmed in this view? It is at least more probable that 
God will give the being, whom He himself created, an 
opportunity of learning to comprehend His mysteries, and 
of rendering Him homage, than that, after a mere com- 
parative spasm of existence, man is at once promoted to a 
region of eternal bliss, or plunged into everlasting tor- 
ment. That this cannot be so, and be consistent with 
God's justice, is the more manifest, when we remember 
that a large portion of the human race have their sojourn 
upon earth curtailed — by causes beyond their own con- 
trol — to the hundredth part of that of others, and that 
surrounding circumstances must often alone determine 
man's progress towards the Heaven or the hell, which the 
theologians flaunt before him. We know that these same 
churchmen have great difficulty in reconciling this, their 
peculiar phase of God's character, with the other attri- 
butes wherein they clothe Him. The true solution of 
this whole difficulty is to clear away church theology and 
substitute in its place a wholesome belief that God has 



LIMITED FREE AGENCY. HI 

assigned eternity for the endless education and the mode 
and manner of it is of God's ordaining, who shall doubt 
its bringing all men to supreme bliss in God's good time ? 

Since no man can be wise, as God is wise, and since 
neither human reason, nor experience, can supply the 
deficiency, in working out his destiny under his free 
agency, instinct makes up for what he lacks in other 
respects. But since man, as now constituted and endowed, 
is always liable to deviate from right, and so bring more 
or less mental or bodily pain upon himself and others, 
some might say, why not have prevented the possibility 
of evil — if evil it be — by giving man such instincts as 
would have made it entirely unnecessary that he should 
be constituted a free and consequently an accountable 
agent? But will any one say that he would have pre- 
ferred this? Would he not rather say: "The present 
system of limited agency is far more satisfactory to me ? 
To have no control over my destiny annihilates my indi- 
viduality. Rather let me have the responsibility which 
attaches to free agency, than the degradation which is 
involved in not having any share in shaping out my pre- 
sent life and future destiny. Rather let me, under the 
influence of volition and by actions that are my own, 
enter into the joys, sympathies, and griefs of life as it is. 
This best satisfies my nature, and the cravings of my 
spirit. Let me be loved, because of the peculiarity and 
personality which is the result of my own volition and 
acts; and let me love those whom I may love, because 
they have had a share in the making up of their own 
peculiar personality. In this is the crowning joy of life." 

May not the crowning joys of Eternity be considered 
in somewhat similar light? May not influences in a 
measure akin to this, ultimately prevail in perfecting 



112 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

man's love of his Maker? Intuition — as we have fre- 
quent occasion to remark — renders it imperative that 
man should acknowledge a God above him. So far, there 
is no exercise of free-will. It is only an acquaintance 
with God's works and an insight into His dealings with 
man, that can convert this knowledge into reverence. 
Herein, the free-will is partially exercised. But it is only 
a thorough appreciation of God's infinite loveliness, that 
can impart full impulse to volition, and transform this 
reverence into love that is worthy of its object. Nature 
endues a mother with affection for the child born of her — - 
unattractive, ugly, peevish, troublesome though it be. 
This is instinct. How much more intense is her attach- 
ment, if the little being be supremely fair and gifted with 
every infantile grace ? This is love. So it may be with 
man hereafter, when, in another stage of his existence, 
the marvellous beauty of God's character and attributes 
are gradually revealed to him. We believe, indeed, that 
God has predetermined to make His self-constituted and 
self-sustained perfection apparent to all men. 

We believe that every man will eventually love Him, 
and strive more and more to serve Him — not alone from 
those spontaneous movements within, that impose no 
restraint on his own free agency, but also from these 
emotions that emanate from his own free-will. 

The instincts of man, which have reference to his 
spiritual or divine nature, are the primary foundation of 
man's religion. The office of the reasoning faculties is 
distinct from that of the instincts. The instincts are 
more necessary, because they are ever shedding upon our 
onward path a light indispensable to us, in groping our 
way through this chequered scene. They are the inex- 
haustible fountain, whence is drawn every noble purpose, 



GOD'S LAWS UNCHANGEABLE. 113 

every incentive to good, kind, and generous deeds. Man, 
as a free agent, acting under and by force of his reason 
and all his faculties, other than instinct, would stumble, 
fall, and utterly fail in his progress through life; but as 
it is, he has ever with him a safe pilot — a guardian angel, 
as it were, guided by a higher mind than his own. There 
are certain duties that God has assigned to man during 
his stewardship here, the proper performance of which is 
too important and too difficult of understanding to be 
entrusted to man's reasoning faculties alone, even when 
of the highest order and fully matured, much less when 
the reverse is the case. Instinct is indispensable to the 
welfare both of the body and soul. It is given by God 
to ensure that, while man is to a certain extent entrusted 
with working out his own destiny, God's benevolent pur- 
pose towards him shall ultimately prevail. And while 
there is, judging from observation here, a vast difference 
in the endowment of individuals, in relation to all those 
faculties of the mind which are subject to cultivation and 
improvement, there is little or no difference in relation to 
instinct — the office of which is so important, that all 
God's living creatures have it, in ample strength and in 
ample time. This is not the case with those other facul- 
ties called mental. These are developed, in process of 
time, according to our advantages, by observation, by 
experience, by comparison, and by study. This being 
so, the improvement of them exhibits itself at different 
periods and in different degrees, in different individuals. 
This is manifest to all men. We all recognize it in this 
life, however it may be in the next. 

Does God govern mankind entirely by laws established 
at the first — co-eval with the creation of man ; or has he 
subsequently, and from time to time, enacted and made 
8 



114 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

operative new laws to meet unforeseen contingencies? Is 
God moved from day to day and from hour to hour by 
prayer, or otherwise, to reverse or modify his general 
laws for the government of men, by means of what. are 
termed special providences? If men are to be held 
accountable for the breach of God's law, justice demands 
that the law should be stable and sure, not vacillating or 
shifting, the same deed being right to-day, and wrong 
to-morrow, and vice versa; otherwise, man is without a 
reliable rule of conduct, and his never varying instinct 
and innate perception of right and wrong have no parallel 
in the laws of God, no immovable standard of moral right 
by which he can, constantly direct his course. 

Now, plain and undeniable as seem the conclusions 
here suggested, they are directly in the face of those of 
Christian theology ; they cannot both be true ; and if the 
Christian theology be true, then God — contrary to Bible 
phraseology — is a being of change ; and this makes the 
inference irresistible, that He was not equal to adjusting- 
all things aright from the first, but only after trial, obser- 
vation, and second thought. If this view of God is io be 
taken as glorifying and worshipping Him, we not only 
fail to perceive that such is the fact, but deem such view 
most irreverent. 

With a view to bringing the light to be derived from 
history to bear on the question, as to whether God's 
government was perfect from the first, or required subse- 
quent radical amendments and a never ending round of 
adjustments called special providences, by way of testing 
the rationale of what is termed supernatural revelation, 
we will state a supposed example. Let us say that five 
persons have appeared upon the earth at various periods, 
but all after many generations of men had lived and died 



SUPPOSED SAVIOURS. 115 

thereon. Each of these persons claimed to be entrusted 
by God with a message of vital importance to every 
member of the human family ; the character and import 
of which had never before been made known to man. 
The pretended new communication from God was to the 
effect, that every individual must have an unwavering 
belief that a certain ' person, who was then, or had been, 
or was to come, upon the earth, was the only medium 
through which men could be saved ; that all who had 
this faith would receive eternal happiness, and all who 
had it not, eternal damnation. Up to this point, each of 
these five persons delivered similar messages ; but here 
they diverged. Each now personally, or by followers, 
was declared to be the one designated by God as he to 
whom the faith in question must be given in order to 
obtain salvation. Suppose that these five messengers 
were named respectively, Christ, Zoroaster, Buddha, 
Godama, and Mohammed, each claiming to be the only 
Saviour of mankind. 

Xow this supposed case furnishes substantially the 
facts that have actually taken place among men ; and 
the result is that faith, more or less strong, has been 
divided between the several persons named as Saviours. 
The number professing faith in Jesus — or living in so- 
called Christian countries — comprises about one-third of 
the inhabitants of the globe. This being the case, is 
there any tenable reason why the Christian theology 
should be held right, and all the others wrong? We 
deem them all alike fallacious. God sends his laws for 
the government of mankind into the world, by each and 
every inhabitant thereof — each being his own messenger ; 
and as the law enjoined by this message is of the same 



116 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

import at all times and in all places, this message 
demands our faith in preference to any other. 

Again : if a man claims that he was the first person to 
whom God made known a new law, to be added to His 
former laws for the government of mankind — which had 
answered their purpose for generation after generation of 
men, but which now required amendment and addition — 
we cannot credit him. We have unbounded and unex- 
tinguishable faith, that God is perfect and unchangeable, 
and that His laws to govern man must have been perfect 
and all-sufficient from the first. We cannot put faith in 
any one who pretends that God added to His original 
code, a vital and imperative law for man's government, 
long after many men had lived and died. None, we say, 
who hold that God is perfect and unchangeable, can pos- 
sibly credit such a story; neither can they reconcile it to 
their views, that God, who makes sure that all his ways 
are perfect, should confide to a single individual an all- 
important message intended for the benefit of each one of 
the human race. 

To those whose conception of God is no higher than 
one involving additional enactments, alterations, and espe- 
cial providences, as unforeseen occasions may require for 
the government of the world, another difficulty presents 
itself. If, according to their theory, it becomes necessary 
for God to bring forward through the especial messenger, 
for the regulation of man's relations with his Maker; and 
if two persons appear simultaneously, each claiming to 
be from God; both giving contradictory versions of the 
claimed will of God — how, under these circumstances, are 
the advocates for the supernatural to determine which is 
the true and which the lying messenger? The Bible 
itself, will not certainly give them much aid in disrin- 



SUPPOSED SAVIOURS. 117 

guishing the false from the true, if we may judge by its 
many warnings. Ahab consulted four hundred prophets; 
they were all impostors, with the exception of Micaiah. 
"The prophets." saith the Lord to Jeremiah, "prophesy 
lies in my name ; I sent them not, neither have I com- 
manded them : neither spake I unto them : they prophesy 
unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of 
nought, and the deceit of their heart;" and elsewhere, 
11 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearken not unto the 
words of the prophets that prophesy unto you; they make 
you vain ; they speak a vision of their own heart, and 
not out of the mouth of the Lord." Jesus, himself, did 
not implicitly rely upon his own universal recognition. 
11 Then," said he, "if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here 
is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise 
false Christs and false prophets, and shall shew great 
signs and wonders ; insomuch that, if it were possible 
they shall deceive the very elect." 

Christian theology then, has no other foundation than 
the conflicting claims of numerous prophets and miracle- 
workers ; a majority of whom, according to Bible narra- 
tive, are false. We fail to perceive that any one of them 
has more claims to be credited than another; and must 
consequently conclude that they are all alike incredible. 

Saying we believe in Jesus, is unintelligible, unless we 
specify the nature of our belief, inasmuch as various 
descriptions of belief have been connected with the 
name of Jesus. During the few years of his public 
career, he assumed three distinct positions before the 
world, while, during the first half century after his death, 
yet another and totally distinct position was assigned to 
him. 



118 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Belief in Jesus, has therefore, been construed to sig- 
nify — m the first place, that he was a teacher of the way 
to the inheritance of eternal life ; secondly, that he was 
the Messiah, the person designated by the prophets, to 
rule over the Jews forever on earth ; thirdly, that he was 
destined to reign forever over a new world — after the 
destruction of the old one — to be inhabited by the 
righteous only ; fourthly and lastly, that he is co-equal 
with God, and the Saviour of all men who entertain this 
belief. 

Kow these several offices — three of which were assumed 
by Jesus, while the fourth was thrust upon him after his 
death — differed so essentially from each other, as to 
render it absolutely impossible that they could all have 
been fulfilled. Passing by Jesus' first and unobjectionable 
position — that of a teacher of divine truths, or in other 
words, of natural religion — we ask, how could he reign 
everlastingly as King of the Jews on the earth that then 
was, and yet reign everlastingly also on a new earth 
which he was to build up from the ashes of the old one ? 
It is just as plain that Jesus has never ruled here in any 
Kingship as that the earth never has been destroyed 
according to his prediction. What he predicted therefore, 
with so much eloquent earnestness, is both impossible 
according to reason, and flatly contradicted by facts. 
Adding to this the fourth office thrust upon Jesus, the 
puzzle is complete. Where shall we turn for a reliable 
guide to true belief? we say that men should turn to the 
One God, Jehovah. He points unmistakably to the first 
and only religion, which Jesus taught with signal effect, 
and which embraced his true mission, and the only 
rational portion of his course. 



JESUS' SECOND COMING. 119 



All the early followers of Jesus clung to the first and 
third of the beliefs enumerated above, and confidently 
looked for the destruction of the earth that was to be 
replaced by a new one, and for Jesus' second coming to 
rule over them forever thereupon. They clung to this 
belief and this expectation, up to, and long after the time 
predicted by Jesus for its fulfilment. In fact, the expecta- 
tion of a coming milleniurn, so-called, upon earth, over 
which Jesus is to rule forever, has not yet entirely died 
out. The belief and expectation, no doubt originated in 
the declarations of Jesus himself, which assumed a very 
definite form, as he drew toward the close of his career. 
" For," said he, " as the lightning cometh out of the east, 
and shineth even unto the west ; so shall also the coming 
of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcass is, 
there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately 
after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be dark- 
ened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars 
shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of the heavens 
shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the 
F m of man in Heaven ; and then shall all the tribes of 
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man 
coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great 
glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound 
of a trumpet ; and they shall gather together his elect 
from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. 
Now learn a parable of the fig-tree : When his branch is 
yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that sum- 
mer is nigh. So, likewise, ye, when ye shall see all these 
things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily, 
I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all 
these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass 
away, but my words shall not pass away." 



120 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

These citations embody Jesus' reply to the question of 
his disciples : " Tell us, when shall these things be ? 
and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end 
of the world." Jesus, moreover, elsewhere likened his 
coming Kingdom of Heaven, to a net which is made 
instrumental in dividing the godly from the ungodly. 
Some further light is also thrown upon the literal signifi- 
cation of Jesus' announcement, by Peter's words, in his 
second Epistle, " But the day of the Lord will come as a 
thief in the night ; in the which the heavens shall pass 
away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with 
fervent heat ; the earth also, and the works that are 
therein shall be burned up. * * * Nevertheless, we, 
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." 

With reference to the expected destruction and renova- 
tion of the earth, Mr. Lecky, in his " History of Euro- 
pean Morals" has a comprehensive foot note: "The 
belief," says he, " that the world was just about to end, 
was, as is well known, very general among the early 
Christians, and greatly affected their lives. It appears 
in the New Testament, and, very clearly, in the epistle 
ascribed to Barnabas in the first century. The persecu- 
tions of the second and third centuries revived . it, and 
both Tertullian and Cyprian strongly assert it. With the 
triumph of Christianity, the apprehension for a time sub- 
sided ; but it reappeared with great force when the dis- 
solution of the empire was manifestly impending, when it 
was accomplished, and in the prolonged anarchy and suf- 
fering that ensued. Gregory of Tours, writing in the 
latter part of the sixth century, speaks of it as very 
prevalent ; and St. Gregory the Great, about the same 
time, constantly expresses it. The panic that tilled 



MAN'S CRAVING FOR TRUTH. 121 

Europe at the end of the tenth century has been often 
described. The fulfillment of these predictions of Jesus 
and his disciples in relation to the destruction of the 
world by fire, like those in respect to his second coming, 
has been so long delayed beyond the expected time, that 
the theologians have been obliged either to abandon them 
as fallacious, or to assign to them a meaning totally 
different from the obvious and originally received one, 
deduced from the plain meaning of words. The new 
world is still to be created, just as Jesus' promised throne 
of David remains still unoccupied. 

The great craving of man's spirit is for the discovery of 
truth. To gain an insight into the mysteries of the uni- 
verse, gives other and higher delight, than merely to 
admire its beauties. The first faint symptoms of this 
passion — for such it is — are exhibited in early childhood. 
The inquisitive boy either cuts the bellows, to see where 
the wind comes from, or takes a watch to pieces, to find 
what makes it tick. During adolescence and maturity, 
the zest for knowledge increases in intensity with the dis- 
covery of each new truth ; and as truths are ascertained, 
and multiply, and their wonderful harmony with each 
other, is observed, the dawning of light within the soul 
gains strength and becomes more luminous. 

The poetical part of man's nature has its foundation in 
truth and harmony — the great characteristics of Grod. 
The poetic instinct is the legitimate offspring of the intui- 
tions that apply to man's higher nature and destiny ; and 
these in conjunction with his other faculties, form the 
ladder, as it were, upon which he ascends heavenward. 
When the spirit soars into the higher regions of imaoina- 
tion, under, the excitement of a sense of the beautiful, 
harmonious, and truthful, it is but God's mode of m vino- 



122 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

man a ray of that sublime light, which shines brighter 
and brighter as he presses forward in the right direction— 
an indication that the soul is capable of a more exalted 
state of existence and happiness than it has yet realized, 
or than the things of this earth can reveal. It is the 
whispering of God, to allure man to the sure path that 
leads to his more congenial abode — to his true destiny. 
This perception and natural leaning, by and through our 
instincts, to the well-being and happiness of ourselves 
and our species, is analogous to that which incites the 
bird of passage to mount upon its wings, and speed its 
way from colder regions to the warmer climes of the 
South, there to pass the winter season, and then again to 
return to the North, the better to rear its young. The 
still, small voice, that charms the bird hither and thither, 
communicates not an idle tale; it is truth, big with 
utility, involving life and death. The bird that pours 
forth its tuneful strains, perched upon the tree-top, sings 
not in vain ; in Nature's good time, his mate, the harbin- 
ger of love and gladness, and fruitfulness, will come, and 
God's all-wise and benevolent purposes will be answered. 
And so of that chant of love which Nature causes to 
vibrate in the virgin and unwedded heart. It is but the 
budding of the highest bliss, that earth has in store for 
humanity. It is God's mode of making his children sub- 
servient to the accomplishment of his great ends. All 
Nature is full of melody, to those who know how to listen. 
Music, sometimes the more enchanting for being dimly 
audible, is ever attuning the emotional soul to the lovely 
and the sublime, and training it to a higher and higher 
estate. Unwritten poetry, we say, pervades all nature. 
Man is attuned to its harmony and its inspiration. The 
infinite fancies and fond imaginings of man are not with 



YEARNINGS OF THE HUMAN SOUL. 123 

out an actually existing object, either here or elsewhere ; 
neither are they without utility. They contribute, immea- 
surably to the charms of life. They foster hope, that 
blessed boon to man. They stimulate to nobler deeds, and 
lead to loftier aspirations. Fiction and poetry, which 
transport and thrill the soul in books do but portray some 
truth or truths recognized already as existing in nature. 
If not, the spirit heedeth not ; the charm is wanting, and 
the springs of life go still unquickened. Poetry may, not 
inaptly, be likened to the flowers that contain the 
embryo of luscious fruit, and that are all the sweeter and 
more attractive because they promise something more 
valuable than the present sense enjoys. Not that the 
flowers themselves are without real utility. By their 
fragrance and beauty, they furnish a feast to some of the 
organs of man, no less than does the fruit to others. 
There is no quality or organ of man's nature, either of 
body or mind, that is devoid of utility. No such anom- 
aly can emanate from the Deity. Man's body, it is true, 
cannot subsist on music, but it furnishes a rich feast to 
his higher being. It can, and does, feed that part of his 
nature, wherewith he is enabled to appreciate and enjoy 
the harmony of God's works. As truth after truth is 
added to the store of man's knowledge in relation to God 
and his works, the more and deeper is he impressed with 
the glory of the author of the universe and the wonderful 
harmony and accord of all created things. 

This advance in knowledge, and appreciation of God's 
greatness and goodness, we deem, will be without end. 
The lower animals, and the physical part of man's being, 
find the means of satisfying their wants and cravings in 
things pertaining to earth. Not so with the human soul ; 
it has longings not satisfied in this life, qualities and 



124 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

powers for the enjoyment of a nobler and higher existence, 
which find not the means of their realization here. There 
is nothing waste and nothing meaningless in the feelings 
and faculties, wherewith living creatures are endowed. 
For each desire there is a corresponding object ; for each 
faculty there is room and opportunity for exercise, either 
in the present life or in futurity. But for the immortality 
of the soul, man's endowments would not be in harmony 
with his destiny. He would be an exception to God's 
universal order and fullness of all things— an anomaly in 
nature • irreconcilable with the known and only con- 
ceivable attributes and ways of God. 

It is evident from the wide-spread and extensive practice 
of using idols in devotional service, that it proceeds from 
some strong, legitimate trait in human nature. All the 
prominent errors of man so proceed. Among the power- 
ful propensities which God has given to man is a restless 
desire to search after, and penetrate into, the wonderful 
mysteries of the spiritual and physical universe. But for 
this thirst for, and advancement in, and acquaintance 
with the knowledge and ways of God, man would fail to 
prepare himself for his future destiny as God intended he 
should. Man, in his eagerness to see God, climbs the 
tree, as did Zaccheus, or builds a tower as did Nimrod. 
In primitive times the lowly in intellect and culture 
endeavored to portray God, the incomprehensible, by the 
help of tangible things ; and having singled out a figure 
or symbol, availed themselves of it as giving some idea 
of God. They, then, through such a symbol, poured out 
their spontaneous adoration to that mysterious Being, 
whose wisdom, through His works, they saw pervading 
all things, yet not otherwise visible to the physical 
eye. God, however, designed man for development and 



THE TRINITY. 125 

advancement, as he did the child in his progress from 
infancy to manhood. The appliances and helps suited to 
these ends, for one age and stage of growth, are unsuited 
to a more advanced one. The present state of knowledge, 
cultivation, and intellectual development in all civilized 
nations is such, that man should now allow nothing to 
stand in the way between his own spiritual eye and the 
great Spirit which fills the universe. 

There is no room or occasion for a second or third per- 
son in the Godhead. The Spirit of God pervades the uni- 
verse. It is an Infinite Mind, and must, of necessity, be 
a unit. What God wills to do, and what God executes, is 
without effort. No other idea is consistent with Infinity. 
The utility or possibility of there being two or three 
co-equal infinite Gods is as incomprehensible to man, as 
that there can be two or three infinite divisions of space ; 
or that there can be two or three independent existences 
of time. Yet, two, and even three, co-equal Gods are 
claimed as the Rock on which the Christian Church is 
founded. This is idolatry. 

The Christian Church claims, too, the infallibility of 
the Bible, notwithstanding irrefutable evidence- to the 
contrary, and thereby again sets up an idol. The wor- 
ship of Jesus and the Virgin Mary is as much idolatry as 
is the worship of the sun, the moon, the stars, and other 
objects, worshipped by what are called idolatrous nations. 
They who worship God through these material objects, 
which are symbolical of the true light emanating from 
Him who is infinite, and ineffable light itself, are much 
more excusable, in view of the greater intelligence claimed 
by Christians in these later times. 

The various trains of thought and reasoning which lead 
men from a consideration of the natural world to a con vie- 



126 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

tion of the existence, the power, the providence of God, 
do not require, for the most part, any long or labored 
deduction, to give them their effect on the mind. The 
notion of such supremacy is universal and innate. In 
many nations, in many periods, this persuasion has been 
mixed up with much that was erroneous and perverse. 
But the opinions of the intellect or the fictions of the 
fancy, do not weaken the force of such conviction. The 
belief of a supreme and presiding power runs through all 
these errors ; and while the perversions are manifestly 
the work of caprice and allusion, and vanish at the first 
ray of sober enquiry, the belief itself is substantial and 
consistent, and grows in strength upon every new exami- 
nation. It is an assurance that the mere existence of a 
law, connecting and governing any class of phenomena, 
implies a presiding intelligence, which has preconceived 
and established the law. We cannot, then, represent to 
ourselves the universe governed by general laws, other- 
wise than by conceiving an intelligent and conscious 
Deity, by whom any such laws were originally contem- 
plated, established, and applied. 

The impression which thus arises, of design and inten- 
tion exercised in the formation of the world, or of the 
reality of a Prime Cause, operates on men's minds so 
generally, and increases so constantly on every additional 
examination of the phenomena of the universe, that we 
cannot but suppose such a belief to have a deep and stable 
foundation. Indeed, science shows us, far more clearly 
than the conceptions of every-day reason, at what an 
immeasurable distance we are from any faculty of con- 
ceiving koiv the universe, material and moral, is the work 
of the Deity. But with regard to the material world, 
we can at least go so far as this ; — we can perceive that 



GOD'S LAWS. 127 

events are brought about, not by insulated interpositions 
of divine power, exerted in each particular case, but by 
the establishment of general laws. This, which is the 
view of the universe, proper to science, whose office it is to 
search out these laws, is also the view which, throughout 
this work, we have endeavored to keep present to the 
mind of the reader. We have attempted to show that it 
combines itself most readily and harmoniously with the 
doctrines of Natural Religion, that the arguments for 
those doctrines are strengthened, the difficulties which 
affect them removed, by keeping it steadily before us. 
We conceive, therefore, that the religious philosopher will 
do well to bear this conception in his mind. God is the 
author and governor of the universe, through the laws 
which He has given to its parts, the properties which He 
has impressed upon its constituent elements: these laws 
and properties are, as we have already said, the instru- 
ments with which He works: the institution of such laws, 
the selection of the quantities which they involve, their 
combination and application, are the modes in which He 
exerts and manifests His power, His wisdom, and His 
goodness: through these attributes, thus exercised, the 
Creator of all, shapes, moves, sustains and guides the 
visible creation. 

How strongly then, does science represent God to us as 
incomprehensible ! His attributes as unfathomable ! His 
power, His wisdom, His goodness, appear in each of the 
provinces of nature which are thus brought before us ; 
and in each, the more we study them, the more impres- 
sive, the more admirable do they appear. When, then, 
we find these qualities manifested in each of so many 
successive ways, and each manifestation rising above the 
preceding by unknown degrees, and through a progression 



128 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

of unknown extent, what other language can we use con- 
cerning such attributes, than that they are infinite f 
What mode of expression can the most cautious phi- 
losophy suggest, other than that He, whom we thus 
endeavor to approach, is infinitely wise, powerful, and 
good? 

But with sense and consciousness, the history of living 
things only begins. They have instincts, affections, pas- 
sions, will. How entirely lost and bewildered do we find 
ourselves, when we endeavor to conceive these faculties 
communicated by means of general laws ! Yet they are 
so communicated from God, and of such laws He is the 
law-giver. At what an immeasurable interval is He thus 
placed above everything which the creation of the inani- 
mate world alone would imply ; and how far must He 
transcend all ideas founded on such laws as we find 
there! But we have still to go further, and far higher. 
The world of reason and of morality is a part of the same 
creation, as the world of matter and of sense. The will 
of man is swayed by rational motives ; its workings are 
inevitably compared with a rule of action; he has a con- 
science which speaks of right and wrong. These are 
laws of man's nature no less than the laws of his material 
existence, or his animal impulses. 

All the laws which govern the moral world are expres- 
sions of the thought and intentions of our Supreme Ruler 
in relation to man. All the contrivances for moral no 
less than for physical good ; for the peace of mind and 
other rewards of virtue, for the elevation and purification 
of individual character ; for the civilization and refinement 
of States, their advancement in intellect and virtue ; for 
the diffusion of good and the repression of evil ; all the 
blessings that wait on perseverance and energy in a good 



MORAL LAWS. 129 

cause ; on unquenchable love of mankind, and uncon- 
querable devotedness to truth ; on purity and self-denial ; 
on faith, hope, and charity ; all these things are indica- 
tions of the will, and future intentions of that God of 
whom we have endeavored to track the footsteps upon 
earth, and to show his handiwork in the heavens. "This 
God is our God, for ever and ever." And if, in endeavoring 
to trace the plan of the vast labyrinth of laws by which 
the universe is governed, we are sometimes lost and 
bewildered, and can scarcely, or not at all, discern the 
lines by which sorrow, and vice, and injustice from man 
to man, fall in with a scheme directed to the strictest 
right and greatest good, we yet find no room to faint or 
falter ; knowing that these are the darkest and most 
tangled recesses of our knowledge ; that into them science 
has as yet cast no ray of light; that in them reason has 
as yet caught sight of no general law by which we may 
securely hold : while, in those regions where we can see 
clearly ; where science has thrown her strongest illumina- 
tion upon the scheme of creation ; where we have had 
displayed to us the general laws which give rise to all 
the multifarious variety of particular facts ; we find all 
full of wisdom, and harmony, and beauty ; and all this 
wise selection of means, this harmonious combination of 
laws, this beautiful symmetry of relations, directed, with 
no exception which human investigation has yet dis- 
covered, to the preservation, the diffusion, the well-beino- 
of those living things, which, though of their nature we 
know so little, we cannot doubt to be the worthiest objects 
of the Creator's care. We find if we never experienced 
pain, we should be every moment injuring ourselves with- 
out perceiving it. Without the excitement of uneasiness, 
without some sensation of pain, we should perform no 
9 



130 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

function of life, should never communicate it, and should 
have none of its pleasures. Hunger, which compels us 
to take our required nourishment, is the commencement 
of pain. Ennui, which stimulates us to exercise and 
occupation, is a pain. Love itself is a longing which 
becomes painful until it is met with corresponding attach- 
ment. In a word, every desire is a want, a longing, a 
beginning of pain. Pain is therefore the main-spring of 
all the actions of animated beings. Inasmuch as want 
involves pain, and since all our pleasures proceed from 
the gratification of our legitimate wants, it is apparent 
that God can, and does cause, even pain and want to pave 
the way to man's happiness and well-being. 

That all foreseeing Power, who is the guardian of our 
infirmities, has supplied to human weakness what human 
wants required. * There is a principle in our mind, which, 
to us, is like a constant protector. It may slumber, 
indeed, but it slumbers only at seasons when its vigilance 
would be useless. It awakes, at the first intimation of 
danger ; and it becomes more watchful and vigorous, in 
proportion to the violence of the attack which it has to 
dread. 

It is well that man is constituted independently of his 
own will, and that he has so little power in shaping the 
circumstances amid which he moves. He would have 
needed a far more comprehensive view than he is equal 
to, both of what is best for men in a community, and for 
man as an individual, had he — a creature of such brief 
and narrow survey — been left with the fixing either of his 
own principles of action, or of his relation with the exter- 
nal world. That constitutional shame — that quick and 
trembling delicacy — a prompt and ever-present guardian, 
appearing as it does in very early childhood, is most 



CONSCIENCE. 131 

assuredly not the result of our anticipating either present 
or distant consequences. Thus, with reference to our ani- 
mal instincts, to which we have already alluded. Other 
forces than those of human prudence and human principle 
seem to have been necessary for restraining within legiti- 
mate bounds a most powerful and fascinating incentive, 
which, when improperly indulged, is deteriorating to the 
moral character ; and which, when once permitted to lord 
it over the habits, so often terminates in the cruel disrup- 
tion of families and the irretrievable ruin and disgrace of 
the offender. It is not by any prospective calculation of 
ours that natural modesty acts herein as a strong precau- 
tionary check. It is directly implanted by One, who sees 
the end from the beginning, and has made it available to 
all men at all times by a monitor set up within us. Con- 
science, as the supreme arbiter of all our actions, superin- 
tends all our senses, passions, and appetites, and judges 
how far each of them is either to be indulged or restrained. 
When conscience prevails over the other principles of our 
nature, then every man is led, by the very make and 
mechanism of his internal economy, to feel that this is 
as it ought to be ; or if these others prevail over con- 
science, that this is not as it ought to be. The object of 
conscience is the subordination of the whole inner man to 
its dictates, and its proper, its legitimate business, is to 
prescribe what man shall be and what he shall do. 

Righteousness, it is felt, would not have been so en- 
throned in the moral system of man, had it not been 
previously enthroned in the system of the universe. This 
is not a local or geographical notion. It is not, therefore, 
the peculiarity of one creed, or of one country. It circu- 
lates at large throughout the family of man. We can 
trace it in the religion of savage life where theology has 



132 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

not found its way ; it man tains its authority over the 
artificial theology of a more complex and idolatrous pagan- 
ism. Neither crime nor civilization can extinguish it ; and 
whether we find it in the fierce and frenzied Cataline. or 
in the tranquil contemplative musings of Socrates and 
Cicero, we find the impression of at once a righteous and 
a reigning sovereign. 

The law of conscience may be regarded as compris- 
ing all those virtues which the hand of the Deity has 
inscribed on the tablet of the human heart ; and it is an 
argument, for these being the very virtues which charac- 
terize and adorn Himself, that they must have been trans- 
cribed from the prior tablet of His own nature. 

Conscience speaks the same language, and owns one 
and the same moral directory all the world over. True to 
her office she gives forth the same lessons, in all the coun- 
tries of the earth. Let the mists of passion and artificial 
education be only cleared away ; and the moral attributes 
of goodness and righteousness and truth will be seen 
undistorted, and in their own proper guise — and there is 
not a heart or a conscience throughout earth's teeming 
population, which could refuse to do them homage. In 
spite of the occasional diversity of moral judgments which 
are vastly less wide and numerous than is generally sup- 
posed, there is a fixed standard of morals, to the greater 
principles of which, a full and unanimous homage is ren- 
dered from every quarter of the globe. On the whole, 
then, it is evident that conscience is founded on human 
nature, and forming a constituent part of it, and may be 
regarded as a faithful witness for God, the author of that 
nature, and as rendering to His character a consistent 
testimony. This ascendant faculty of man, which may 
be termed the divinity within us, notwithstanding the 



CONSCIENCE. 133 

occasional sophistry of the passions, is on the whole, 
representative of the Divinity above us. Whenever an 
act of iniquity or an outrage is done to the law of con- 
science, there is felt a reaction within, which tells that 
the outrage is resented. Then it is that conscience 
makes most emphatic assertion of its high prerogative, 
and, instead of coming forth as the benign and generous 
dispenser of its rewards to the obedient, it comes forth 
like an offended monarch in the character of a severe 
avenger. In that instant pleasure and instant pain, 
wherewith conscience follows up the doings of man, we 
behold not only a present judgment, but a present execu- 
tion of the sentence, to the end that immediate repentance 
and amended ways may follow. 

God is the rewarder of virtue. He hath so constituted 
our nature that, in the very flow and exercise of the good 
affections, there shall be the oil of gladness. There is 
instant delight in the first conception of benevolence. 
There is sustained delight in its continued exercise. 
There is consummated delight in its happy smiling, and 
prosperous result. Kindness and honesty and truth are 
of themselves and irrespective of their rightness, sweet 
unto the taste of the inner man. Malice, envy, falsehood, 
injustice, irrespective of their wrongness, have of them- 
selves, the bitterness of gall and wormwood. 

It is thus manifest that a state of well-doing stands 
associated with a state of well-being. The special virtue 
of temperance is not more closely associated with the 
health of the body, than the general habit of virtue is 
with a wholesome and well conditioned state of the soul. 
There is then no derangement, as it were, in the system 
of our nature — all the powers, whether superior or subor- 
dinate, being in their right places, and all moving without 



134 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

discord and without dislocation. In short, God has so 
framed the creatures of His will, as that their perfect 
goodness and perfect happiness are one. 

To educate and win man to his greatest happiness, and 
true destiny, God has spread diversified loveliness over 
the panorama of visible things, thrown innumerable walks 
of enchantment around us ; turned the sights and sounds 
of rural scenery into the ministers of exquisite enjoyment ; 
and caused the outer world of matter to image forth in 
profusion those various qualities which please or power- 
fully affect us in the inner world of consciousness and 
thought. God, we say, has thus multiplied our enjoy- 
ments, and invested them with such qualities as suit the 
constitution of the human mind. He has pencilled them 
with the very colors or moulded them into the very shapes 
which suggest either the graceful or the noble of the 
human character. 

He has so formed our mental constitution, and so 
adapted the whole economy of external things to the 
stable and everlasting principles of virtue, that in effect 
the greatest virtue and the greatest happiness go hand in 
hand. But the union of these two does not constitute 
their unity. Virtue is not right because it is useful ; 
but God has made it useful, because it is right. He 
both wills virtue, and wills the happiness of his crea- 
tures — this benevolence of will, being itself, not the 
whole, but one of the brightest moralities in the charac- 
ter of the Godhead. He wills the happiness of man, 
but wills his virtue more ; and accordingly, has so con- 
structed both the system of humanity and the system of 
eternal nature, that only through the medium of virtue 
can any substantial or lasting happiness be realized. 
Finally, it is worthy of special note that whiie conscience 



MANS CONFIDENCE IN NATURE. 135 

exercises the same authority aDcl gives the same lessons, 
approves and disapproves of the same things all the 
world over, it never condemns in matters concerning the 
thousands of disputed creeds and theologies abroad in the 
world ; may not this be taken as proof positive that 
dogmas and doctrines form no part of genuine religion ? 

The Christian theology being entirely based upon super- 
natural or special providences in contradistinction to the 
absolutely stable and unalterable laws of God, we cite a 
passage hereupon, from the writings of Dr. Chalmers. 
It will be seen that the views here expressed are com- 
pletely adverse to the idea of vacillating and shifting 
laws, such as theologians pretend to recognize in God's 
government of the affairs of this world. 

11 This disposition to count on the uniformity of Nature, 
or even to anticipate the same consequents from the same 
antecedents, is not the fruit of experience, but anterior to 
it ; or at least anterior to the A'ery earliest of those of her 
lessons which can be traced backward in the history of 
an infant mind. Indeed, it has been well observed by 
Dr. Thomas Brown, that the future constancy of Mature 
is a lesson, which no observation of its past constancy, 
or no experience could have taught us." 

At whatever stage of the experience the inference may 
be made, whether longer or shorter, whether oftener or 
seldomer repeated — the conversion of the past into the 
future seems to require a distinct and independent prin- 
ciple of belief ; and it is a principle which, to all appear- 
ance, is as vigorous in childhood as in the full maturity 
of the human understanding. The child who strikes the 
table with a spoon for the first time, and is regaled by 
the noise, will strike again, with as confident an expecta- 
tion of the same result as if the succession had been 



136 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

familiar to it for years. There is the expectation before 
the experience of Nature's constancy ; and still the topic 
of our wonder and gratitude is, that this instinctive and 
universal faith in the heart should be responded to by 
objective nature, in one wide and universal fulfillment. 

The proper office of experience, in this matter, is very 
generally misapprehended, and this has mystified the real 
principle and philosophy of the subject. Her office is not 
to tell, or to reassure us of the constancy of Nature ; but 
to tell what the terms of her unalterable progressions 
actually are. 

The human mind from its first outset, and in virtue of 
a constitutional bias co-eval with the earliest dawn of 
the understanding, is prepared and that before experience 
has begun her lessons, to count on the constancy of 
Nature's sequences. But at that time, it is profoundly 
ignorant of the sequences in themselves. It is the proper 
business of experience to give this information; but it may 
require many lessons before that her disciples be made 
to understand what be the distinct terms even of but one 
sequence. Nature presents us with her phenomena in 
complex assemblages ; and it is often difficult, in the work 
of disentangling tier trains from each other, to single out 
the proper and casual antecedent with its resulting con- 
sequent, from among the crowd of accessory or accidental 
circumstances by which they are surrounded. There is 
never any uncertainty as to the in variableness of Nature's 
successions. The only uncertainty is as to the steps of 
each succession and the distinct achievement of experience 
is to ascertain these steps. And many mistakes are com- 
mitted in this course of education, from our disposition to 
confound the similarities with the samenesses of Nature. 
We never misgive in our general confidence that the 



MAN'S CONFIDENCE IN NATURE. 137 

same antecedent will be followed by the same consequent; 
but we often mistake the semblance for the reality, and 
are as often disappointed in the expectations that we 
form. This is the real account of that growing confi- 
dence, wherewith we anticipate the same results in the 
same apparent circumstances, the oftener that that result 
has in these circumstances, been observed by us — as of 
a high-water about twice every day, or of a sunrise 
every morning. It is not that we need to be more 
assured than we are already of the constancy of Nature, 
in the sense that every result must always be the sure 
effect of its strict and casual antecedent. But we need to 
be assured of the real presence of this antecedent, in that 
mass of contemporaneous things under which the result 
has taken place hitherto ; and of this we are more and 
more satisfied with every new occurrence of the same 
event in the same apparent circumstances. This too is 
our real object in the repetition of experiments. Not that 
we suspect that Nature will ever vacillate from her con- 
stancy — for if by one decisive experiment we should fix 
the real terms of any succession, this experiment were to 
us as good as a thousand. But each succession in Nature 
is so liable to be obscured and complicated by other influ- 
ences, that we must be quite sure, ere we can proclaim 
our discovery of some new sequence, that we have pro- 
perly disentangled her separate trains from each other. 
For this purpose we have often to question Nature in 
many different ways ; we have to combine and apply her 
elements variously ; we have sometimes to detach one 
ingredient, or to add another, or to alter the proportions 
of a third — and all in order, not to ascertain the invaria- 
bleness of Nature, for of this we have had instinctive cer- 
tainty from the beginning ; but in order to ascertain what 



138 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

the actual footsteps of her progressions are, so as to con- 
nect each effect in the history of Nature's changes with 
its strict and proper cause. Meanwhile, amid all the sus- 
pense and the frequent disappointments which attend this 
search into the processes of nature, our confidence in the 
rigid and inviolable uniformity of these processes remains 
unshaken — a confidence not learned from experience, but 
amply confirmed and accorded to by experience. For 
this instinctive expectation is never once refuted, in the 
whole course of our subsequent researches. Nature, 
though stretched on a rack, or put to the torture, by the 
inquisitions of science, never falters from her immuta- 
bility ; but persists, unseduced and unwearied, in the 
same response to the same question; or gives forth, by a 
spark, or an explosion, or an effervescence, or some other 
definite phenomenon, the same result to the same circum- 
stances or combination of data. The anticipations of 
infancy meet with their glorious verification in all the 
findings of manhood ; and a truth which would seem to 
require Omniscience for its grasp, as co-extensive with all 
Nature and all history, is deposited by the hand of God, 
in the little cell of a nursling's cogitations. In the 
instinctive, the universal faith of Nature's constancy we 
behold a promise. In the actual constancy of Nature, we 
behold its fulfillment. When the two are viewed in con- 
nection, then, to be told that Nature never recedes from 
her constancy, is to be told that the God of Nature never 
recedes from* his faithfulness. If not by a whisper from 
His voice, at least by the impress of His hand, He hath 
deposited a silent expectation in every heart ; and He 
makes all Nature and all history conspire to realize it. 
He hath not only enabled man to retain in his memory a 
faithful transcript of the past, but, by means of this con- 



MAN'S CONFIDENCE IN NATURE. 139 

stitutional tendency, this instinct of the understanding, as 
it has been termed, to look with prophetic eye upon the 
future. It is the link by which we connect experience 
with anticipation — >a power or exercise of the mind co-eval 
with the first dawnings of consciousness or observation, 
because obviously that to which we owe the confidence so 
early acquired and so firmly established, in the informa- 
tion of our senses. Nature never disappoints, or which is 
equivalent to this, the Author of Nature never deceives us. 
The generality of Nature's laws is indispensable, both to 
the formation of any system of truth for the understand- 
ing and to the guidance of our actions. But ere we can 
make use of it, the sense and the confident expectation of 
this generality must be previously in our minds ; and the 
concurrence, the contingent harmony of these two ele- 
ments; the requisite adaptation of the objective to the sub- 
jective, with the manifest utilities to which it is subser- 
vient; the palpable and perfect meetness which subsists 
between this intellectual propensity in man, and all the 
processes of the outward universe — while they afford incon- 
testable evidence to tfie existence and unity of that design, 
which must have adjusted the mental and the material 
formations to each other, speak most decisively, in our 
estimation, both for the truth and the wisdom of God. 

We have long felt this close and unexcepted, while at 
the same time, contingent harmony, between the actual 
constancy of Nature and man's faith in that constancy, to 
be an effectual preservative against that scepticism, which 
would represent the whole system of our thoughts and 
perceptions to be founded on an illusion. Certain it is, 
that besides an indefinite number of truths received by 
the understanding as the conclusions of proof more or less 
lengthened, there are truths recognized without proof by 



140 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

an instant act of intuition — not the results of a reasoning 
process, but themselves the first principles of all reasoning. 
There is a comfort in being enabled to vindicate the 
confidence which Nature has inspired — as in those cases, 
where some original principle of hers admits of being 
clearly and decidedly tested. And it is so of our faith 
in the constancy of Nature, met and responded to, 
throughout all her dominions, by nature's actual con- 
stancy, the one being the expectation, the other its rigid 
and invariable fulfillment. This perhaps is the most pal- 
pable instance which can be quoted, of a belief anterior 
to experience, yet of which experience affords a wide and 
unexcepted verification. It proves at least of one of our 
implanted instincts, that it is unerring ; and that, over 
against a subjective tendency in the mind, there is a 
great objective reality in circumambient nature to which 
it corresponds. This may well convince us, that we live, 
not in a world of imaginations — but in a world of realities. 
It is a noble example of the harmony which obtains, 
between the original make and constitution of the human 
spirit upon the one hand, and the constitution of external 
things upon the other; and nobly accredits the faithful- 
ness of Him, who, as the Creator of both, ordained this 
happy and wondrous adaptation. That we are never mis- 
led in our instinctive belief of nature's uniformity, demon- 
strates the perfect safety wherewith we may commit our- 
selves to the guidance of our original principles, whether 
intellectual or moral — assured, that, instead of occupying 
a land of shadows, a region of universal doubt and deri- 
sion, they are the stabilities, both of an everlasting truth 
and an everlasting righteousness with which we have 
to do. 1 This is directly opposed to special providences, 
without which Christian theology is baseless. 



THE MORAL LAW. 141 

Our ideas of the moral attributes of God must be 
derived from our own moral perceptions. It is only by 
attending to these, that we can form a conception of what 
His attributes are ; and it is in this way we are furnished 
with the strongest proofs that they really belong to Him. 
The peculiar sentiment of approbation with which we 
regard the virtue of beneficence in others, the peculiar 
satisfaction with which we reflect on each of our own 
actions as have contributed to the happiness of mankind, 
and we may add, the exquisite pleasure accompanying the 
exercise of all the kind affections, naturally lead us to 
consider benevolence or goodness as the supreme attribute 
of the Deity. It is difficult, indeed, to conceive what 
other motive could have induced a Being, completely and 
independently happy, to have called his creatures into 
existence. The evils which we suffer are parts of a great 
system conducted by Almighty power, under the direction 
of infinite wisdom and goodness. 

The creation of beings endowed with Free-will, and 
consequently liable to moral delinquency, and the govern- 
ment of the world by general laws — from which occa- 
sional evils must result — furnish no solid objection to the 
perfection of the universe. When man, ignorantly or 
knowingly, violates any of God's laws, he receives the 
punishment consequent upon his action and best for his 
ultimate welfare. Such punishment is therefore in accord- 
ance with God's goodness and justice — utility being the 
sole principle of action, as well in regard to punishments 
as rewards. 

The various duties of life agree with each other in one 
common quality, that of being obligatory on rational and 
voluntary agents ; and they are all enjoined by the same 
authority — the authority of conscience. These duties, 



142 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

therefore, are but different articles of one law, which is 
properly expressed by the word Virtue ; or still more 
unequivocally, by the phrase, The Moral Law. 

The practice of morality is facilitated by repeated acts ; 
and, therefore, the word Virtue may with propriety be 
employed to express that habit of mind which it is the 
great object of a good man to confirm. " He that ruleth 
his spirit feels himself greater than he that taketh a 
city." "It is pleasant," says Dr. Tiliotson, "to be vir- 
tuous and good, because that is to excel many others. It 
is pleasant to grow better, because that is to excel our- 
selves." We are under an obligation to right, which is 
antecedent, and, in order and nature, superior to all other. 

Dr. Clarke has expressed himself nearly to the same 
purpose. " The judgment and conscience of a man's own 
mind concerning the reasonableness and fitness of a thing, 
is the truest and most formal obligation, for, whoever acts 
contrary to this sense and conscience of his own mind, is 
necessarily self-condemned, and the greatest and strongest 
of all obligations is that which a man cannot break 
through without condemning himself. So far, therefore, 
as men are conscious of what is right and wrong, so far 
they are under an obligation to act accordingly." This 
view of human nature is the most simple, so it is the 
most ancient which occurs in the history of moral science. 
It was the doctrine of the Pythagorean school, as appears 
from a fragment of Theages, a Pythagorean writer, pub- 
lished in Gale's Opuscula Mythologica. It is also 
explained by Plato, in some of his dialogues. Adam 
Smith says, "Upon whatever we suppose our moral fac- 
ulties to be founded ; whether upon a certain modification 
of reasons, upon an original instinct called a moral sense, 
or upon some other principle of our nature, it cannot be 



SCIENCE THE ALLY OF RELIGION. 143 

doubted that they are given us for the direction of our 
conduct in this life. They carry along with them the 
most evident badges of their authority, which denote that 
they were set up within us to be the supreme arbiters of 
all our actions ; to superintend all our senses, passions, 
and appetites ; and to judge how far each of them was to 
be either indulged or restrained. Since these, therefore, 
were plainly intended to be the governing principles of 
human nature, the rules which they prescribe are to be 
regarded as the commands and laws of the Deity, promul- 
gated by those vicegerents which he has thus set up 
within us. * * * * By acting according to their dictates, 
we may be said, in some sense, to co-operate with the 
Deity, and to advance, as far as in our power, the plan of 
Providence." 

Again: "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would 
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for 
this is the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew vii. 12.) 
This golden rule was embodied in the words of Confucius, 
the Chinese sage, five hundred years before Christ ; and 
again by Hillel, a Hebrew president, thirty years before 
Christ. But all men have been under its influence, and 
have been actuated by it, to a greater or less extent, since 
the existence of man, independent of its having been 
spoken or written. The principle upon which the saying 
is founded is innate — imperative, in a degree, and none 
can disregard it. 

The generality or constancy of Nature's laws is indis- 
pensable, both to the formation of any system of truth 
for the understanding, and to the guidance of our actions. 
The stability of God's law, we say, is indispensable to 
our being educated to its observance, and yet the churches 
inculcate, that it is vacillating or being changed from day 



144 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

to day, at the instance of prayer or other causes moving 
God to reverse his general laws, the better to provide for 
some special and unforeseen contingency. On this one 
question, as to whether God's purposes and ways are 
unchangeable or whether they are vacillating, hangs the 
truth or fallacy of the pretended fall of man, and the 
Christian scheme, for his restoration. Mr. Buckle has 
well observed that the ancient superstition is now slowly 
though surely dying away, which represented the Deity 
as being constantly moved to anger, delighting in seeing 
His creatures abase and mortify themselves, taking plea- 
sure in their sacrifices and their austerities, and, notwith- 
standing all they could do, constantly inflicting on them 
the most grievous punishments, among which the different 
forms of pestilence were conspicuous. It is by science, 
and by science alone, that these horrible delusions are 
being dissipated. Events, which formerly were deemed 
supernatural visitations, are now shown to depend upon 
natural causes, and to be amenable to natural remedies. 
Man can predict them, and man can deal with them. 
Being the inevitable result of their own antecedents, no 
room is left for the notion of their being special inflic- 
tions. This great change in our opinions is fatal to 
theology, but serviceable to religion. For, by it, science, 
instead of being the enemy of religion, becomes its ally. 
That this remarkable improvement, the relieving of 
religion from dogma, is due to the progress of physical 
science, is apparent, not only from general arguments 
which would lead us to anticipate that such must be the 
case, but also from the historical fact, that the gradual 
destruction of the old theology is everywhere preceded by 
the growth and diffusion of physical truths. The more 
we know of the laws of Nature the more clearly do we 



PROVIDENTIAL INTERFERENCE. 145 

understand that every thing which happens in the mate- 
rial world, pestilence, earthquake, famine, or whatever it 
may be, is the necessary result of something which had 
previously happened. Cause produces effect, and the 
effect becomes, in its turn, a cause of other effects. In 
that operation, there is no gap, and no pause. The chain 
is unbroken ; the constancy of Nature is unviolated. Our 
minds become habituated to contemplate all physical 
phenomena as presenting an orderly, uniform, and spon- 
taneous march, and running on in one regular and unin- 
terrupted sequence. This is the scientific view. It is 
also the religious view. Against it, we have the theolo- 
gical view ; but that which has already lost its hold over 
the intellect of men is now losing its hold over their 
affections, and is so manifestly perishing, that at present 
no educated person ventures to defend it, without so 
limiting and guarding his meaning, as to concede to its 
opponents nearly every point which is really at issue. 

" While, however, in regard to the material world, the 
narrow notions formerly entertained are, in the most 
enlightened countries, almost extinct, it must be confessed 
that, in regard to the moral world, the progress of opinion 
is less rapid. The same men, who believe that Nature is 
undisturbed by miraculous interposition, refuse to believe 
that man is equally undisturbed. In the one case, they 
assert the scientific doctrine of regularity ; in the other, 
they assert the theological doctrine of irregularity/' 

"The doctrine that God governs the world by super- 
natural and irregular means instead of never varying 
laws, is not only unscientific, but it is eminently irreli- 
gious. It is, in fact, an impeachment of one of the 
noblest attributes of the Deity. It is a slur on the 
omniscience "of God. It assumes that the fate of nations, 
10 



146 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

instead of being the result of preceding and surrounding 
events, is specially subject to the control and interference 
of Providence. It assumes that there are great public 
emergencies, in which such interference is needed. It 
assumes that, without this interference, the course of 
affairs could not run smoothly ; that they would be jangled 
and out of tune ; that the play and harmony of the whole 
would be incomplete. And thus it is that the very men, 
who at one moment proclaim the divine omniscience, do 
at the next moment advocate a theory which reduces that 
omniscience to nothing, since it imputes to an All-wise 
Being, that the scheme of human affairs, of which He 
must from the beginning have foreseen every issue and 
every consequence, is so weakly contrived as to be liable 
to be frustrated ; that it has not turned out as He could 
have wished; that it has been baffled by His own crea- 
tures; and that, to preserve its integrity, its operations 
must be tampered with and its disorders redressed. The 
great Architect of the Universe, the Creator and Designer 
of all existing things, is likened to some clumsy mechanic, 
who knows his trade so ill, that he has to be called in to 
alter the working of his own machine, to supply its defi- 
ciencies, to fill up its flaws, and to rectify its errors." 

"Those who cling to these errors, do so from the 
influence of tradition, rather than from complete and 
unswerving belief. From the beginning, there has been 
no discrepancy, no incongruity, no disorder, no interrup- 
tion, no interference ; but all the events which surround 
us, even to the furthest limits of the material creation, 
are but different parts of a single scheme, which is per- 
meated by one glorious principle of universal and unde- 
viating regularity." 



ERRONEOUS IDEAS OF HEAVEN. 147 

Faith in an existence beyond the grave involves by 
necessity the belief that man's spiritual individuality, his 
consciousness of personal identity, is preserved to each in- 
dividual ; else the faith, with which God has inspired him 
in relation to happiness in another world, would be a 
delusion. Man can have no conception of future happi- 
ness, or attach any value to the idea of it, apart from 
associations with his present existence, or unless he blends 
with it some recollection of his past existence, peculiari- 
ties, and identity. Let a man contemplate his mind and 
spirit waking up in eternity as from a sleep, with all their 
faculties in full vigor, co-operating and performing their 
normal functions as when united to the body here, and pos- 
sessing all the peculiarities that distinguished them indi- 
vidually, yet without the slightest remembrance or con- 
sciousness of his former being — would such a future be 
deemed of the smallest worth by any one? If we are 
not to know ourselves in the next world and to associate 
our existence here with that of the world to come, then 
it matters little whether it be another or ourself that 
secures a more or less happy state in eternity, or any 
existence whatever beyond the grave. 

In the infancy of the human race, when men were 
slowly elaborating forms of speech to give utterance 
to their thoughts, and communicate with their fellows, 
words were invented, that, however originally useful in 
themselves, have helped, in the progress of time, to cir- 
cumscribe the intellect they were intended to enlarge. 
Such words, to this day, exercise a prejudicial effect, and 
convey false meanings and impressions. Thus the Bible 
accounts of Heaven and Hell give an altogether erroneous 
idea of the imaginary states which they profess to pre- 
figure. Heaven is represented as a place above the 



148 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

earth — a place heaved-up, like a vault or arch over the 
earth, in which God is supposed to dwell. The discovery 
that the earth is a globe, and not an extended plane, ought 
to suggest an idea of Heaven more correctly applicable to 
the fact; for it makes the words "up" and "down" mathe- 
matically incorrect, and pertinent only to that apparent 
plane commanded by the human eye. Still, however, not 
only the ignorant, but the educated, continue to speak of 
"Heaven" as a place above the earth — as the abode of 
God — a place inhabited in eternity only by those who 
believe in certain doctrines which are inculcated here, 
and where the enjoyments prepared for them are, accord- 
ing to most creeds, far more carnal than spiritual, and 
pertain to the things upon which the sensual are most 
addicted to set a value. For the faithful Christian, there 
are crowns of gold, to be worn in a city which is paved 
with gold, whose foundations are garnished with all 
manner of precious stones, and whose twelve gates are of 
pearl. There are beautiful bowers and fountains, and 
lovely "houries" for the eternal delight of the good Mus- 
sulman. There are happy hunting grounds for the 
immortalized Red Indian. 

In like manner, the word "Hell," which originally 
meant a "hole," or the "grave," — has been used to 
create an idea opposite to Heaven — the heaved-up abode 
of bliss, and to signify a place below the earth — a place 
of eternal punishment — the abode of the Devil, the rep- 
resentative of the principle of evil, where unbelievers 
will be tormented forever in fire and brimstone. As- 
tronomy ought to make an end of both of these erroneous 
ideas, for it proves that the universe is the abode of God — 
the universe that embraces the earth, the stars, and every 
other system that pervades the infinity of space. There 



ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 149 

is therefore no room for Hell. The glorious universe 
swallows up every atom of space that exists. If the 
terms are admissible in any sense, Heaven is in reality a 
comparatively advanced state of happiness here and 
hereafter, brought about by obedience to God's laws. 
Hell, in like manner, is the state of mind, here and here- 
after, produced by disobedience to those laws. It is, 
within certain limits, for man himself to decide or control, 
by his own conduct, the amount of either that shall be 
his portion. 

At every step in a train of argumentation, we are in 
the habit of affirming one thing to be true, because of its 
logical connection with another thing known to be true. 
Bat, as this process of derivation must have a limit, it is 
obvious that at the starting point to which some, at least, 
of these trains of reasoning are traced back, there must 
be truths which — instead of borrowing their credibility 
from others — announce themselves immediately to the 
mind, by the original and independent and inherent evi- 
dence pertaining to them. 

Now, among those primary convictions of the under- 
standing — these truths which come by necessity, first- 
handed from God to man — we shall, for our present pur- 
pose, cite only the one from which all others radiate, to 
wit, the existence of a God who is the Creator and Ruler 
of the universe — including man. Upon this undisputable 
truth — we claim — may be founded with implicit confi- 
dence, the following propositions : That He who made the 
universe has no peer, no equal, is One and indivisible : 
That He is absolute in power ; and that there is no devil 
or other being disputing His sway, or at enmity with Him. 
That He is infinite in justice and goodness, and hence 
could not have so ordained man and his surroundings, as 



150 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS, 

to permit of other than eventual supreme good to each 
human being. 

We hold that these views in relation to God, naturally 
flow from the bare contemplation of Him, whose know- 
ledge and power were and are equal to creating and sus- 
taining the universe. We hold also, that experience, 
which shall never end, commences betimes in the life of 
each man, to confirm him the more and more in his early 
conceptions of God's excellence and glory. 

This prime conviction of the existence of a God, and 
the natural deductions from it, practically over-ride all 
false teaching, come it from whatsoever source it may, and 
is ever confirming the true. We have said that a self- 
evident truth, which must by necessity come to the mind 
of every man first-hand, is the only reliable basis, no 
less than the continuous cement of all sound reasoning. 
Where do the Christian Churches find this basis and this 
cement? Is it in their traditions, in their theologies bor- 
rowed from the ancients, in their fabulous records contra- 
dicted by history, in the unfulfilled predictions of their 
oracles, in their miracles, which will not bear the test of 
science, in their self-bestowed certificates of their own 
infallibility, in the bloody doings of their hierarchy during 
the dark ages, in their repulsive creed that dooms the vast 
majority of mankind to everlasting anguish ? 

Furthermore, the need of a base, or foundation — cor- 
responding in solidity, and of universal acceptation with 
that of the existence of a one Omnipotent and indivisi- 
ble God — whereupon to rest the doctrines peculiar to the 
Christian theology, as distinguished from natural religion, 
is visible in the multiplicity of Christian sects, in their 
wars and persecutions among themselves in other times 
and in their divisions and heart-burnings of to-day. This 



GOD IN NATURE. 151 

again brings up the question which distinguishes theology 
from religion. 

God hath so constituted us, that we thirst for knowl- 
edge, adapted to our taste for the beautiful ; and He has 
formed the world without, to awaken echoes in the soul 
within, so as to promote at one and the same time the 
enlargement of the experience, the quickening of the 
understanding, and the refinement of the feelings. 

Each class of objects furnishes its quota of evidence. 
The physical works of God give indications of power and 
skill. The providence of God exhibits a governing and 
controlling energy. Our spiritual natures lift us to the 
conception of a living and spiritual God. 

The phenomena, which prove the existence of God, 
also demonstrate that he delights in the happiness of his 
creatures. How delightful to find that every adaptation 
indicating design also indicates benevolence, and that we 
have as clear evidence of the goodness as of the very 
existence of God. Let it be observed, too, that the mind, 
as its general conceptions expand, will also have its idea 
of God expanded. When Nature is viewed in a nar- 
row spirit, it may leave the impression that there is an 
uuseemly warfare, and that there are numberless contra- 
dictions in the universe. The light of knowledge, as it 
rises, dispels these phantoms, and discloses among appa- 
rent incongruities and contentions, a unity of being in the 
Creator and Governor of all things. 

The workings of conscience in the soul, besides furnish- 
ing a curious subject of inquiry, carry us down into the 
very depths of our nature, and thence upwards to some of 
the highest of the Divine perfections. It is by this light, 
which God has furnished to all men, and the training 



152 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

resulting from his unalterable laws, that God's goodness 
will become more and more apparent. 

We have seen that in Judaism, Mahommedanism, Hin- 
dooism, Buddhism, Christianity, and every description of 
creed under. the sun, the will of a living Being is asserted 
as the ground of all things ; they all speak of Him as 
declaring Himself, and as exercising a continual, not an 
occasional, government over men. The universal recogni- 
tion of a Divine, personal, unseen, Sovereignty ; of One 
who is not sought out by men, but who calls them to do 
His work, is the foundation, and strength of actual reli- 
gion. He calls upon them to obey a Will ; each act of 
obedience brings them into closer acquaintance with Him 
who gives the command. 

Man is taught that the evil which he is conscious of 
in himself, and which he sees in others, comes from 
unlikeness to the perfect Being in whose image he is 
created. He has but a glimpse of the Divine purposes 
and character, but it is such a glimpse, as is suitable to 
his necessities. He is taught that righteousness is a 
reality ; that the government of the world is based upon 
it ; that wrong and oppression are not meant to triumph. 

But such a Revelation as this, could never merely be 
delivered to men as a book of sentences or maxims ; it 
must come forth in a history of Divine law and human 
acts. It must show how the Divine Will directed events 
by means of a never- varying law and disciplined men for 
that perfect good, that knowledge of himself which He 
had designed for them. It must show how He cultivates 
the faculties which He has given to His creatures, how 
He enables them to overcome the darkness and difficulties 
in the midst of which they are struggling. Thus securing 
the predominance of right over wrong, and virtue over 



THE DIVINE CHARACTER. 153 

vice, and the clearer and clearer view of God's goodness 
and perfection. 

In primitive times men in striving to comprehend the 
characteristics of God, resorted by way. of illustration, to 
those traits in human character, which are quite at vari- 
ance with His nature. In many cases this course mis- 
leads rather than edifies. Such passions and emotions, 
while especially adapted to the necessities of finite beings 
of limited power and knowledge and liable to err, have no 
counterpart in God's higher nature. His infinite power, 
knowledge, foresight, justice, goodness, in short, His 
supreme perfections preclude any such emotions, passions, 
or qualities, as repentance, anger, pity, hope, fear, love, 
mercy, hatred, forgiveness, surprise, gladness, levity, 
revenge, disappointment, rejoicing, or jealousy. Nothing 
can take place which God did not foresee would take place 
at the time of establishing His perfect design, to be worked 
out under the unalterable laws that He ordained for the 
purpose. Since, therefore, it is man's high privilege to 
advance in the knowledge and appreciation of God's 
goodness and perfections, in contemplation of Him we 
should avail ourselves of the highest intellectual culture 
at our command. In this way, we confirm, and add to 
the original conception of God, taught us by natural reli- 
gion. This will lead us to a vastly more elevated idea of 
God, than those teachings which inculcate that He is 
finite and vacillating, and which reduce Him to a level 
with His dependent, short-sighted creatures. Love, mercy, 
and forgiveness can not apply to God in the sense in 
which these emotions are understood and expressed by 
man. Justice, and goodness supersede them. God's 
ordinances regulated by His infinite wisdom are such, that 
the exercise of mercy and forgiveness would be less just 



154 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and beneficial to man than otherwise, both in this life and 
the life to come. It is far better for God to exact to the 
utmost that penalty which He has attached to man's mis- 
doings, not as punishment, but as remedy — inasmuch as it 
is imposed upon him with the sole object of training and 
fitting him to the destiny that God originally designed for 
him. A jury sometimes recommends a criminal whom 
they have condemned to the mercy of the court, because 
they are not altogether satisfied that the culprit is guilty 
by the strict interpretation of the law, or because they 
find mitigating circumstances in his case. Not so w T ith 
God — He is enabled by His perfect fore-knowledge and 
w T isdom to make sure that the crime and the punishment 
are in exact fitness to each other ; and since they are so 
adjusted for man's best interests, it would be unmerciful 
to destroy this fitness, by the relaxation of any portion of 
the penalty originally attached to man's misdoings. The 
same considerations apply to love. If God's original laws 
are strictly just, and all-sufficient for carrying out His 
perfect purpose — and w T ho shall doubt it — any exercise of 
love that would alter man's original relation to those laws, 
would be unjust to him. God's justice is exact to the 
most minute point, and admits of no amendment. Any 
exercise of love or mercy, on God's part, that would 
reverse His original decrees, presupposes God to be falli- 
ble or unable to ordain all things aright from the first. 

The parable of the Prodigal Son is intended to incul- 
cate the idea that God rejoices more over the repentance 
of a sinner, than over the well-doing of a just man. What 
a striking example of the unwarrantable application of 
human passions to the Deity is this ! It is natural that 
a father should experience an agreeable surprise and ela- 
tion at the return of a wayward son to duty. But God 



NO REMISSION OF PENALTIES. 155 

has ordained that he who sins shall assuredly repent ; and 
what God has imperatively ordained to take place can 
afford Him no surprise or rejoicing at its consummation. 
Every event or issue is the even flow of the purpose He 
foresaw and intended from the beginning ; therefore, the 
parable in question is not a true illustration of the attri- 
butes or emotions of God. * Sincere repentance tends, most 
forcibly, to turn men from their evil ways ; and, there- 
fore, Jesus did well when he charged his Apostles to 
preach repentance, but inconsistently when he inculcated 
the idea that repentance brings remission of the penalty 
due to sin. This is impossible, inasmuch as the punish- 
ment which sin entails is the sole cause of the repentance. 
The effect of punishment and repentance for sin were 
never meant to be retrospective ; but are intended to warn 
us against the commission of sin in future. For instance, 
the burnt child dreads the fire. This wholesome dread in 
no wise assuages the pain of the burn ; but it is an impor- 
tant lesson to the child to enable it to steer clear of sim- 
ilar dangers, and the more effectual, as the pain is more 
severe. God's goodness and justice are here shewn in 
exacting the penalty, and thereby producing the repent- 
ance ; since repentance leads to man's best interests. 

Even the appellation of Father, accorded to God by 
Jesus — much as it has done and is calculated to do in 
giving some appreciation of God's goodness and care over 
His creatures — falls as far short of giving the true idea of 
the extent and beneficial exercise of God's goodness, as 
weak man falls short of God's perfection. God, in dis- 
pensing happiness to His creatures, goes to the extreme 
bounds that is well for them, but never beyond. God, 
knowing all • things, does all things with a perfection 
beyond mans conception. Neither Father, nor any other 



156 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

human idea or figure of speech, can fully represent God's 
goodness to His creatures. Jesus says truly, "there is 
none good but God." 

This view of divine government involves a much more 
elevated idea and worship of God, than any other. The 
perfect foreknowledge and power of God enabled Him so 
to constitute man, and to ordain such laws for his govern- 
ment, as to meet the exact requirements under every 
possible contingency, without addition, amendment, altera- 
tion, or abatement. In this perfect work is the strongest 
possible manifestation of God's equal justice and goodness 
to all men. The high and the humble are alike amenable 
to His unalterable laws ; and those laws are in exact 
accordance with man's best interests. 



INTRODUCTION TO BIBLE CRITICISM. 



God's instructions to man through Nature, in relation 
to his duties here, are so plain and unmistakable that 
they cannot but be understood alike by all men, in all 
ao-es of the world. Hence the inference is irresistible 
that whatever is claimed to be a revelation from God in 
relation to man's duty, whether in and through the Bible, 
by miracles, or through any other means whatsdver, if it 
be not so plain and devoid of obscurity as to be understood, 
in this way, by all men, cannot have emanated from God. 

No man is bound to accept, as true, any averment in 
the name of religion, which is repugnant to the dictates 
of his own conscience, or inconsistent with the justice and 
goodness of God. It was never intended that anything 
should be received as infallibly true, except that which 
we perceive intuitively, or which is palpable from obser- 
vation, or subject to unmistakable demonstration. 

The character of the proof of the three following assump- 
tions is such that universal assent is given to them ; first, 
the truth of the existence of the One God, Jehovah ; 
second, the immortality of the soul ; third, that it is 
man's duty and interest to conform to the moral, and 
other laws pertaining to his being. 

Strong conclusions ought not to be drawn from impro- 
bable statements or imperfect premises. God requires 



158 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

that we should believe only so much as can be fairly 
deduced from the premises, or only so much as the credi- 
bility of the statement warrants. 

God has given us our mental faculties to enable us to 
discriminate between truth and error, and he who makes 
not this use of them arrives at truth, if at all, by mere 
chance. 

We cannot come to a full conviction of the truth of a 
proposition, except on evidence which we deem full and 
infallible. Every substantial structure must have a foun- 
dation proportionally substantial. 

Maintaining these axioms, we now proceed to remark 
upon the Bible, assuming that if in its entire scope, it be 
a true revelation from God, as Christian theology claims 
it to be — whether its contents be derived from natural or 
supernatural sources, or in part from each — there should 
be perfect harmony throughout. No one can, consistently, 
object to subjecting the claimed truth of the Eible to the 
most rigid test, either by comparing its various parts, one 
with the other, or with the established facts of Nature, or 
with the moral consciousness of man ; or by any other 
available mode of investigation. The Bible should be 
able to withstand the most rigid scrutiny, when viewed 
in connection with whatever truths may serve to throw 
light upon it ; and it should be proof against such logical 
deductions as may be brought to bear against it. 

We believe the Bible to be true, only so far as its 
teachings are in accordance with the teachings of God to 
all mankind, through their natural faculties, holding that 
there is no such thing as supernatural revelation. We 
believe also that all pretended deviations from the order 
which God established at the beginning are unproved, 
and have their origin and advocacy, in human ignorance 



VAGUENESS OF PROPHECIES. 159 

or fraud. Evidence of this is furnished most abundantly 
in Bible record, as we shall attempt to show. Bible 
authority will also be claimed as legitimate, for the pur- 
pose of controverting -dogmas and doctrines that are pro- 
fessedly founded on its contents. 



VAGUENESS OF PROPHECIES. 

All the prophecies, and most of the parables of Jesus, 
are so extremely vague and uncertain in their meaning 
(if any meaning they have) as to be susceptible of innu- 
merable interpretations, all equally plausible, if compared 
one with another ; and yet not one of the constructions 
put upon the Bible text, is sufficiently plain to be for a 
moment relied on as a guide to that duty, and faith upon 
which, the churches aver, hangs man's eternal welfare. 
And even those portions of the Bible, which are less 
obscure than some to which we have alluded, are made to 
have a far-fetched spiritual significance, totally at vari- 
ance with the wording. This answers a double purpose. 
First, it rescues the dogmas, creeds, and theologies of the 
churches and clergy, partially from discredit and over- 
throw ; and secondly, whenever a figurative mode of 
expression is substituted for the plain meaning of words, 
it operates so that there can be no end to equivocation 
and misrepresentation. Hence, each of the many sects 
finds material for a specious building up its respective 
tenets, and each can make it appear that its church is the 
only gate through which to pass on to eternal bliss. None 
are wanting in zeal in pushing their peculiar views, (all 
of which depart more or less from the early teachings of 



160 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Jesus,) solely for the love of the dear people ; and yet 
they are ever mindful of the toll which the wayfarer must 
pay at their gate. Let us look at a few examples of this 
mode of interpretation. 

The plan of salvation taught by the Churches, is 
through faith in the divinity of Jesus. This involves the 
question whether the Prophets were or were not super- 
naturally endowed, and enabled to designate, centuries 
beforehand, the identical person who afterwards was 
claimed to be both God and man, co-equal with Jehovah ; 
and whether Jesus was he whom they designated as that 
person. 

In order to prove that he was, resort is had to compli- 
cated prophecies, visions, dark sayings, and dreams, all of 
them most vague and uncertain in their interpretation— 
if indeed they have any definite meaning. This very- 
much confuses church teaching ; but it holds church-goers 
in wonderment and awe, at the profundity of the Teacher 
who claims to penetrate and expound this deep, and to 
them unfathomable, system — a system from which it is 
claimed that most vital truths are extracted, and without a 
knowledge of which truths, and the aid of their Teachers, 
they— the less knowing — are led to believe that they 
would be irrevocably lost. 

As to the visions, dreams, and prophetic utterances of 
mere men, as mediums for promulgating laws that are to 
be accepted and binding on other men, some few remarks 
may be pertinent. A man declares that God has super- 
naturally revealed to him a new law, to be obeyed by all 
other men ; and that God has attached to the neglect of 
said law the penalty of everlasting torment. Now how 
can we know this to be true, without supernatural revela- 
tion, to assure us that the prophet himself bears a true 



SUPERNATURAL INSPIRATION INCREDIBLE. 161 

message from God? It is the essence of a law, that he 
who is commanded to obey, should have a knowledge of 
the authority of him who promulgates that law. But 
there is no intuition or natural sense within us tending to 
the recognition of these prophecies, utterances, dreams, 
and visions, as being from God. Hence we are not 
bound to obey what is called supernatural revelations, 
having no reliable evidence of their truth, further than 
the mere assertion of him who claims to have a message 
from God. 

JSiow, if God ever speaks to man supernaturally, (which 
we feel assured he never does,) the fact can only be known 
by those to whom God has so spoken. No man can pos- 
sibly bring home to another's understanding, how he can 
have been spoken to directly and supernaturally, unless 
the one to whom he addresses himself has also been 
spoken to supernaturally. If a man perceive the course 
which he supposes to be proper for himself and others to 
pursue, through his intuition, conscience or natural sense, 
it is easy to explain to another how God communicated 
this, His will, because God has in like manner so commu- 
nicated with all men. In this way we can give more or 
less credit to communications, coming through others, 
when they say that those communications were received 
in a natural way : yet only when they bear evidence of 
having been so received, and in proportion to the credi- 
bility of the person ; and so far as the character of what 
is communicated may be consistent with reason. But if 
a man says he has been supernaturally inspired to com- 
municate God's will to men, and he communicates that 
which is a new thing, unheard of before by any one, 
strange, and not in itself in conformity with man's natural 

reason, i nstitution s, instincts, and conscience — is it obli- 
1 |t^^x6ci^2Jc^ w i^t4' 



162 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

gatory on any second person to shape his conduct, in 
accordance with such pretended supernatural communica- 
tion ? What possible claim can such a man have on the 
credulity of others as having truly received from God a 
correct exposition of His will ? 

God has shown — and beyond the ability of man to 
throw a shadow of doubt on the subject — that He makes 
His will and laws, for the government of all lower 
animals, perfectly efficient. His ends and purposes, 
through the instincts and intuitions implanted in each 
respective race, at the first, operating uniformly and uni- 
versally, are, we have a right to conclude, exactly suited 
to the bringing about of the results which He intended at 
the creation. That this analogy holds good in relation to 
man, may be doubted by some, but cannot be disproved. 
No good reason can be advanced why God should govern 
all the lower animals by a mode entirely in accordance 
with His perfect foreknowledge and infinite power, and 
yet govern mankind in a way most palpably inferior, so 
much so as to require (according to popular theology) that 
each one of the human family, should report to God by 
words of mouth, such special amendments to his general 
laws as they may think necessary to their individual wel- 
fare. Now this is equivalent to attributing to God an 
absence of that foresight, power and infinite perfection 
which He has made so manifest throughout all His work. 
We are, therefore, under the thorough conviction, that 
God governs man by His immutable laws, first estab- 
lished, operating alike upon every individual, for his best 
interest, and requiring no alteration or amendment. This 
alone is consistent with God's foreknowledge, justice, 
power, goodness and majesty. 



FAILURE OF PRECISE PREDICTIONS. 163 

All the prophecies which admit of a definite construc- 
tion, both as to the things predicted and the time of their 
coming to pass, have entirely failed to come to pass. The 
following furnishes an example : And as he sat upon the 
Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, 
saying: "Tell us when shall these things be, and what 
shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the 
world?" (Matthew xxiv. 3.) The answer to these ques- 
tions, we may fairly infer is contained in the following 
language made use of by Jesus : lt Immediately after the 
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and 
the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall 
from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be 
shaken. And then shall appear the Son of man in 
heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, 
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of 
heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send 
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet ; and they 
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from 
one end of heaven to the other. Now learn a parable of 
the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender and putteth 
forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise 
ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is 
near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This 
generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." 
(Matthew xxiv. 29, 34.) And again: "Verily I say 
unto you, There be some standing here which shall not 
taste of death until they see the Son of man coming in his 
kingdom." (Matthew xvi. 28.) Now these prophecies 
admit of no prevarication or " shuffling, as is the case with 
most of them ; and there can be no doubt that when 
Jesus made the prediction, that His second coming in 
person in the clouds of heaven, with power and great 



164 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

glory, should take place before the generation of men to 
whom He was then speaking should all pass away, he 
fully believed it would be fulfilled within the prescribed 
time, which is distinctly marked in the most unmistakable 
terms. The failure is complete. No person can argue 
to the contrary, with any show of candor. This, of itself, 
in all fairness, is fatal to the pretensions of Jesus' divinity, 
and is highly damaging to all His claims based upon the 
prophecies of the Old Testament. Strauss remarks on 
this subject; "Here we stand face to face, with a deci- 
sive point. The ancient Church clung to this part of the 
doctrine of Jesus, in literal signification, nay, it was, pro- 
perly speaking, built upon this foundation, since without 
the expectation of His near return, no Christian whatever, 
would have come into existence. For us, Jesus exists 
only as a human being. To a human being no such thing 
as he here prophesied of himself, could happen. If he 
did prophesy it of himself, and expect it himself, it proves 
that he conceived himself to be that which he was not." 
"All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in 
parables ; and without a parable spake he not unto them : 
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the 
prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables ; I will 
utter things which have been kept secret from the foun- 
dation of the world." — Matthew xiii. 34, 35. Here he, 
who is claimed as God, is represented as making it a 
studied point to shape his conduct in accordance with 
prophecy. But while Jesus shaped his sayings and con- 
duct specially with a view of making them thus conform, 
his followers put a construction on them not warranted by 
the text, and thus gained for him that credence without 
which he would not now stand before Christendom as he 
does. 



PARABLE OF THE LOST SHEEP. 165 

Now, as to the parable of the Lost Sheep : "Then drew 
near unto him all the publicans and sinners, for to hear 
him. And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured, saying, 
This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. And 
he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of 
you, having an hundred sheep, if he lost one, doth not 
leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after 
that which is lost until he find it? And when he hath 
found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And 
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and 
neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have 
found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that 
likewise joy shall be in Heaven over one sinner that 
repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons 
which need no repentance." — Luke xv. 1, 11. This 
teaching is of doubtful utility, if nothing more. It indi- 
cates that a person's character is elevated by wrong-doing. 
God's mode of reclaiming the erring is by shewing them 
their folly through the upbraidings of conscience or by 
other punishments, thereby producing a sense of degrada- 
tion or pain and unhappiness. This produces repentance 
and amended ways by necessity, sooner or later, and 
always in God's good time, which we deem better than 
rejoicing over the sinner, since it is God's mode of train- 
ing to virtue. It is obvious that God's mode is directly 
opposed to the deductions of Jesus from the parable on 
this subject. 

Again : the Parable of the Prodigal Son : " Father, I 
have sinned against heaven and in thy sight, and am no 
more worthy to be called thy son. * * * But the father 
said to his servants, bring forth the best robe, and put it 
on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 
And bring hither the fatted calf and kill it ; and let us 



166 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

eat and be merry. Now his elder son was in the field : 
and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard 
music and dancing : And he called one of the servants, 
and asked what these things meant. And he said unto 
him," thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the 
fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 
And he was angry, and would not go in : therefore came 
his father out and entreated him. And he answering, 
said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, 
neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment ; 
and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make 
merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was 
come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou 
hast killed for him the fatted calf." — Luke xv. 21, 23, 
25, 30. — This represents wrong-doing, and repentance 
therefor, as being more commendable than a uniform 
course of correct conduct. This is not in accordance with 
the self-respect which God has implanted within the 
nature of man, neither is it in accordance with the aggre- 
gate sense of right. The human father of the parable 
may be supposed to be in doubt as to whether his erring 
son would ever return to duty and to his home, and may 
be considered as acting but the natural part of a Father, 
in rejoicing at the unexpected return of his wayward child. 
But God, knowing and controlling all things, can never 
(like the human father) be in doubt, can never be sur- 
prised, can never rejoice over an unexpected occurrence. 
Hence, the Parable here in view, is inappropriate when 
applied in this way. 

Furthermore: "There was in a city a judge, which 
feared not God neither regarded man. And there was a 
widow in that city ; and she came unto him saying, 
Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for 



ERRONEOUS DEDUCTIONS. 167 

awhile but afterward he said within himself; though I 
fear not God, nor regard man, Yet, because this widow 
troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual 
coming she weary me. And the Lord said, hear what 
the unjust judge saith." 

"And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day 
and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 
I tell vou he will avenge them speedily." — Luke xviii. 
2, 3, 4; 5, 6, 7, 8. 

Now the prominent teaching of this parable is that God 
will avenge only his own elect, and that, for the sole 
purpose of getting rid of the annoyance of their long- 
continued importunities. But how much does this view 
conflict with that unbounded goodness and long forbear- 
ance which all Christians of the present day ascribe to 
God ! If it be said that it was designed to applaud and 
encourage long-continued pleading and importuning for 
the redress of grievances, or the avenging of our adversa- 
ries, then we answer that it is not in accordance with the 
following teaching of Jesus : " Your Father knoweth what 
things ye have need of before ye ask Him." " Use no 
vain repetitions." "Not every one that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but 
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." 
All which passages go to prove, that it is his works, and 
not much speaking that are acceptable to God. 

And still another : When a certain rich ruler asked 
Jesus what he must do to inherit " eternal life," his reply 
was to this effect : "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell 
all that thou hast and give it to the poor, and thou shalt 
have treasure in Heaven ; and come and follow me. For, 
verily, I say .unto you, A rich man shall hardly enter into 
■vpf&r the Kingdom of Heaven." — Matthew xix., 21, 23. 



168 . ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

Again, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of 
a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom 
of God. When his disciples heard this they were exceed- 
ingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?" — Mat- 
thew xix. 24, 25. And again : In the parable of the 
rich man and Lazarus, the following occurs : " Son, 
remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good 
things, and likewise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is 
comforted, and thou art tormented." — Luke xvi. 25. 
"Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God." 
" But woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received 
your consolation." — Luke vi. 20, 24. The teaching of 
these parables and sayings can have but one object, that 
is, to represent poverty and suffering as virtues, and the 
true road to Heaven, and to make riches an insurmounta- 
ble obstacle to future happiness. Self-preservation is the 
strongest law which God has implanted within man ; and 
out of this grows the incentive to acquire, and store up 
the necessaries and luxuries of life ; the legitimate doing 
of which increases a man's usefulness to himself and 
fellow-men. This is so universally recognized, that the 
instructions of Jesus on the subject are entirely disre- 
garded by the disciples of Christianity, not excepting the 
clergy, which practically falsifies the Bible, whereof it is 
said every word must be received as truth. 

Again : " These twelve Jesus sent forth, and com- 
manded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gen- 
tiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not ; 
But go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel." — 
Matthew x. 5, 6. " I thank thee, 0, Father," said 
Jesus, " because thou hast hid these things from the wise 
and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." — Mat- 
thew xi. 25. This is inconsistent with the idea that 



ERRONEOUS DEDUCTIONS. 169 

Jesus' mission was to raise all who fell through Adam, 
and of his being the Saviour of all mankind. 

Again : " But I say unto you, Love your enemies, 
bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
and pray for them which despitefully use you and perse- 
cute you." — Matthew v. 44. "Ye have heard that it 
hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a 
tooth. But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil ; but 
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek turn to 
him the other also, And, if any man will sue thee at the 
law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. 
And, whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with 
him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him 
that would borrow of thee turn not thou away." — Mat- 
thew v. 38, 42. These injunctions are at variance with 
the well-defined characteristics of human nature, and con- 
sequently un suited to the practices of e very-day life, 
inconsistent with self-preservation, and a becoming dig- 
nity and self-respect. 

Lastly : " Now, when Jesus was risen early the first 
day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene. 
* * * Afterward he appeared unto the eleven. * * * 
And he said unto them. Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the Gospel to every creature. He that belie v- 
eth and is baptized, shall be saved, but he that believ- 
eth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow 
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out 
devils ; they shall speak with new tongues, They shall 
take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing it 
shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, 
and they shall recover." — Mark xvi. 9, 14, 16, 17, 18. 
Now, since nothing is said to the contrary, it is fair to 
presume that these things were spoken by Jesus as per- 



170 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

taining to all future time. But will any one pretend that 
in these days there is a verification of the truth of these 
declarations ? Rather, is it not apparent that the reverse 
is the case ? 

A man born in a Mohammedan country believes in 
Mohammed. A Chinese believes in Confucius ; and so 
with the followers of every other system of theology on 
the face of the globe. All, or most of the founders of 
the different systems, claim supernatural origin and 
endowments for themselves, or are believed to have pos- 
sessed them, by their followers. People who are educated 
to believe in a particular faith, think that on such belief 
depends their salvation. Now, could we have any better 
proof than this, that one has as little foundation as the 
other, to rest upon — not even excepting the Christian 
theology ? There is no merit or demerit, no salvation or 
condemnation, either for belief or non-belief, in any of 
these theologies. God is too just and good to ordain that 
the doom of an immortal soul shall be determined by the 
merest accidental circumstance, in no way involving the 
voluntary action or accountability of the individual soul. 

The early teachings of Jesus are comprised in his 
enjoining the duty of love to God and man, which he 
repeatedly says is all that is necessary for salvation. 
These teachings, however good in themselves, had nothing 
new or peculiar in them, but were taught, substantially, 
and with equal, if not with greater force and fullness, by 
Zoroaster, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, and all the 
other founders of theology and great Teachers of religion 
and morals. Did not the Greek and Roman philosophers, 
Aristotle, Socrates, Plato, Democritus, Pythagoras, Epi- 
curus, Pindar, and Solon, recognize as a rule of conduct, 
the great principles of moral deportment contained in the 



CHRISTIANITY NOT ORIGINAL. 171 

early teachings of Christ, to wit, love of God and good 
works ? Indeed, all nations on the face of the globe, as 
far back as history will carry us, have in substance, advo- 
cated and been governed by this religion, which is com- 
mon to all. 

Every doctrine, creed, theology, dogma or faith, that 
has ever been claimed to be, or which has gone by the 
name of religion, other than natural religion, has been 
embraced by a portion, only, of the different nations and 
peoples of the earth ; springing up during one age of the 
world, gone in the next. On the contrary, all agree, and 
at all times and in all places, that love to God and love to 
man, and the conforming to the moral law, is the bounden 
duty of every accountable member of the human family. 
But here the boundary of harmony on religious subjects 
is reached. This universal religion has been, and is, 
preached and urged upon the observance of mankind, in 
connection with thousands of different doctrines, creeds, 
theologies, ceremonies, and forms, which are claimed as 
essential parts of worship : each sect contending for its 
own peculiar views, in relation to doctrines, creeds, and 
theologies, with such pertinacity and bitterness, as to 
cause wars, that have resulted in the massacre of millions 
upon millions of human beings, and that continue to be 
the source of most lamentable contentions and crimina- 
tions, and of irreligious conduct generally. It is submitted 
therefore, whether this state of facts, which is verified by 
history, does not indicate, unmistakably, what it is that 
constitutes the religion which Grod intended and insured 
for universal adoption by nations and individuals, or, in 
other words, whether it does not furnish a sure criterion, 
by means of which the wheat and the chaff may be dis- 
tinguished each from the other. 



172 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

The principal written codes connected with the worship 
of God in various countries, and which have been more 
or less the cause of disastrous wars and disgraceful feuds 
among men, are the following : the Zend A vesta of the 
Parsees ; the Vini Pidimot of the Burmese Empire ; the 
Pig Veda of the Hindoos ; the Koran of the Mahomme- 
dans ; and the Bible of the Christians. But we would 
ask, is it at all a part of the duty which God exacts of 
man, to pay homage to, or to worship, any of the persons, 
whom these books or records glorify ? Godama, Mahomet . 
Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus, all claim to be either gods 
or supernaturally endowed by God. Which of them shall 
we acknowledge ? We would submit also, that, whereas 
the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, and many other symbols, 
have been adopted by various sects, either as substantial 
parts or as adjuncts of worship, so also does the Christian 
theology require divine honor to be paid to the Virgin 
Mary, and that three Gods be worshipped instead of the 
One living and true God. Wherein, we ask, lies the dif- 
ference ? May there not be a good side and an evil side, 
in all these cases alike — good, inasmuch as the symbol 
leads up to the God above it — evil, whenever and wher- 
ever devotion stops short at the symbol ? 

It is very important that the truth on this subject 
should be determined, and be set forth by those among us 
who make a profession of teaching.. But, bound by the 
rules of their Church and constrained by habit, the clergy 
advocate a certain set of special tenets, even whilst the 
most learned and sensible men among them acknowledge, 
in their own hearts, that what may be called the techni- 
calities of their faith are not based on reliable evidence. 
Intelligent observation of God's dealings with the human 
race around them, and a careful study of the record of 



SIMPLICITY OF TRUE RELIGION. 173 

past ages, lead them to the just conclusion that the reli- 
gion which God teaches is love for Himself and His laws, 
and the golden rule, " Do unto others as you would they 
should do unto you." Yet they lack the moral courage 
to preach this sublime and simple doctrine, preferring, in 
deference to custom and in fear of giving offence, to reit- 
erate Biblical stories that are disproved by investigation, 
or that have much in common with other creeds which 
they affect to despise. 

And yet how pathetically do these same Christian 
clergymen appeal for pecuniary aid, to the end that they 
may convert the Heathen ! Their object, meanwhile, is 
not to promulgate the practical religion which Jesus 
taught with such wonderful effect both by precept and 
example, and which consists entirely of love to God and 
good will to man ; neither is it to inculcate morals based 
on good works taught in the law of God. It is their own 
Christian theology, which they are bent upon instilling 
into the Heathen mind, its main point being a theoretical 
belief in man's fall through iVdam, and resurrection 
through Jesus. It is evident, or it should be, indeed, to 
all reasonable minds, that God sent His only true and 
all-sufficient religion to the Heathen in common with all 
men. Else what becomes of all those who either never 
heard of Jesus ; or, if they did, have no more desire to 
believe in him than a Christian has to believe in Moham- 
med, or to become an Israelite? 

The theology — for means of sending which to the 
Heathen each creed, sect, and denomination of Christians 
so pathetically pleads — consists of dogmas and theologies 
tacked on to the pure religion of Jesus and of Nature. 
Each has a different dogma, each has variations in its 



174 ONE RELIGION: MANY CKEEDS. 

faith. How are the Heathen to choose between one and 
another ? 

In all countries, whether Heathen or Christian, there 
are those who mingle the spurious with the good ; conse- 
quently Heathen teachers have false gods and false 
theologies of their own, which they trade in, with equal 
results as the Christians. They see that the same is done 
in Christian countries, and they laugh at the idea of a 
comparatively small number of Christians dictating creeds 
and theologies to the balance of mankind, quadrupling 
them in number, and as likely to be right as themselves. 
Hence it is just as reasonable to suppose, that the 
Heathen should attempt to benefit Christian communi- 
ties, by sending them their Bibles, which contain moral 
codes and precepts equally as good, and, in fact, dogmas 
and theologies as ingeniously contrived, as well authen- 
ticated, and as plausible in their claim to divine origin as 
the Christian Bible. Their oracles, too, whose names are 
taken to designate the various theologies which prevail 
among them, have as valid a claim, by miracles and pro- 
phecies, to supernatural endowments (or to Divinity itself) 
as have the Christian Churches on behalf of Jesus. But 
it is not Jesus himself, who is reponsible for the system 
which has been engrafted on his name. It is his pro- 
fessed followers who have perverted his teaching. His 
answer was, when he was asked, " Master, which is the 
great commandment in the law?" "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy mind. This is the first and great com- 
mandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two command- 
ments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matthew 
xxii, 37, 38, 39, 40. And when, again, he was asked, 



CHRIST'S REAL TEACHINGS. 175 

" Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may 
have eternal life ?" His answer was, " Why callest thou 
me good ? there is none good but one, that is God : hut if 
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He 
saith unto him, which? Jesus said; Thou shalt do no 
murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not 
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honor thy 
father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor 
as thyself." — (Matthew xix, 17, 18, 19.) In ail this, he 
docs not require, but actually declines, having any honor 
done to himself as a condition of entering into eternal 
life. All that he requires is, that a man should love 
God, the Father, and do those good works which He 
prescribes for him to do. If there had been anything 
else, would not Jesus have told him what it was ? It was 
a most momentous question which had been asked of him. 
It was necessary, therefore, that he should be most pre- 
cise and accurate in answering it ; and yet he did not say, 
"believe in me; through me alone, and the shedding of 
my blood, canst thou be saved," but simply, "keep the 
commandments." "Not everyone that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven," 
said he, on another occasion, " but he that doeth the will 
of my Father which is in Heaven." — (Matthew vii, 21.) 
And this will of the Father he exemplified in his own 
life. He " went about all the cities and villages, teach- 
ing in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the 
kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease 
among the people." — (Matthew ix, 35.) 

The worship of the Father alone, by good works, and 
not by praying to and worshipping him, Jesus, was the 
requisite, as he conceived, for entering into the kingdom 
of heaven. Jesus, in this, practiced what he preached, 



176 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

He went about diligently and zealously preaching natural 
religion, healing the sick, and rebuking those who thought 
that they could get to Heaven by crying to him "Lord, 
Lord !" instead of exhibiting in their daily conduct a life 
of good works : so that we have the express authority of 
Jesus for saying, that love to God and kind offices one 
toward another is the whole duty of man, which again is 
in accordance with The Fiest and Only True Religion. 

Bible descriptions of God and His attributes purport 
to be derived from God Himself, through His super- 
natural revelation, to particular individuals. But this 
revelation, if such it be, represents God as intensely 
human, both in form and character. It ascribes to Him 
many of the weaknesses and faults, and much of the short- 
sightedness, of the frailest of men ; and it is totally 
unlike the revelation which He has made of Himself to 
all men, through the works of Nature. He has written 
Himself upon the broad face of the Universe, and in the 
depth of men's soul's, in such legible characters, and 
established such laws in relation to man, as to ensure 
that His will shall be done and man's happiness secured 
in God's good time. In addition to this, He has por- 
trayed Himself, in every phase of creation, with a beauty 
and grandeur, that man becomes more and more capable 
of appreciating. 

Now, we ask, shall this sublime record, which God has 
made of Himself, be for a single moment tarnished by a 
forced conjunction with views of Him that are impious? 
If so, let those suffer the damaging consequences, who 
teach such doctrine. Yet we are told that these descrip- 
tions of the Almighty must be believed in as infallibly 
true, by all men, as a condition of happiness beyond the 
grave. And what are they ? Read what the writers of 



GOD'S EVIL PASSIONS. 177 

the Christian Bible say, and then judge for yourselves. 
Very few quotations will suffice to show in what abomi- 
nable form the Creator has been represented, by those 
who declared themselves to be his messengers. 

In the first place, he is represented as being addicted 
to furious anger, and this to such a degree that, were any 
of his creatures to manifest the same disposition, they 
would be looked upon as monsters. Take the following 
examples: "The fierce anger of the Lord" — Numbers, 
xxv. 4 ; " The anger of the Lord shall smoke " — Deute- 
ronomy, xxix. 20; "Through the anger of the Lord it 
came to pass" — 2 Kings, xxiv. 20; "Let the Lord be 
angry" — Genesis, viii. 30; "And provoked the Lord to 
anger" — Judges, ii. 12; "The children of Israel have 
only provoked me to anger " — Jeremiah, xxxii. 30 ; "And 
I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make 
them drunk in my fury " — Isaiah, lxiii. 6. 

Hatred and a fierce thirst for vengeance are attributed 
to him in a similar manner: "I hate robbery for burnt 
offerings" — Isaiah, Ixi. 8; "Because the Lord hated 
us" — Deuteronomy, i. 27; "Therefore have I hated 
it" — Jeremiah, xii. 8: "There I hated them, * * * I 
will love them no more" — Hosea, ix. 15; "Jacob have 
I loved, but Esau have I hated" — Malachi, i. 23. To 
illustrate the Almighty^ revengeful tendencies, turn to 
Exodus, xx. 5, where we are told that he will visit the 
iniquities of fathers upon the children, nay even upon four 
generations of unborn children ; to Deuteronomy, vii. 10 ; 
" He repay eth them that hate him to their face, to 
destroy them;" to Isaiah, xlvii. 3; "I will take ven- 
geance," lxiii. 4, and; "The day of vengeance is in 
mine heart ;" to Romans, xii. 9 ; " Vengeance is mine ;" 
and especially to— 1 Samuel, xv. 2, 3, — " Thus saith the 



178 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Lord of Hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to 
Israel. * * * Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly 
destroy all that they have, and spare them not ; but slay 
both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, 
camel and ass." 

Jealousy also, such as we find attributed to certain 
gods and goddesses in Pagan mythology, is set down as 
one of God's characteristics : " I, the Lord, thy God, am 
a jealous God" — Exodus, xx. 5; "They provoked him 
to jealousy with strange gods " — Deuteronomy, xxxii. 16 ; 
11 He is a jealous God " — Joshua, xxiv. 19 ; " Then will 
the Lord be jealous for his land " — Joel, ii. 18 ; " God is 
jealous and the Lord revengeful " — Nahum, i. 2 ; "lam 
jealous for Jerusalem" — Zechariah, i, 14; "I will give 
thee blood in fury and jealousy." — Ezekiel, xvi. 38. 

Even ignorance is attributed to the Almighty, the 
words that follow being put into His mouth — Genesis, 
xviii. 21 : "I will go down now, and see whether they 
have done altogether according to the cry of it which is 
come unto me, and if not I will know." Job also repre- 
sents the Omnipotent as condescending to ask Satan about 
His doings, as if He were not also omniscient. 

They presume even, these writers under so-called inspi- 
ration, to speak of this indulgence in scornful laughter ; 
as in Psalm, ii. 4, " He that sitteth in the heavens shall 
laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision," and again, 
lix. 8, " Thou, 0, Lord, shall laugh at them, thou 
shalt have all the heathen in derision." 

Fickleness and alternation of purpose, common human 
infirmities, are represented as among His peculiarities. 
In Genesis we are told that "it repented the Lord that 
He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at 
His heart," Yet it must be owned, the sacred writers 



GOD'S EVIL PASSIONS. 179 

are not unanimous in attributing to God this tendency to 
change of mind. Thus, in Exodus, xxxii. 14, we read, 
"The Lord repented the evil which He thought to do 
unto His people ;" and in 1 Samuel, xv. 29, " The strength 
of Israel will not repent, for He is not a man that He 
should repent." It is written in Psalms, cxvi. 45, — " He 
repented, according to the multitude of His mercies ;" in 
Jonah, iii. 10, " God repented of the evil that He had 
said ;" and in Jeremiah, xviii. 8, " If a nation turn, I will 
repent of the evil." Yet we find in James, i. 17, " The 
Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning." 

It would perhaps be almost sufficient to have cited the 
Lord's alleged repentance over the superior being of his 
own creation, which the same authority tells us, He had 
pronounced " very good ;" but we cannot omit to remind 
the reader of the very curious story of Moses pleading 
with the Lord, as it stands in Exodus, xxxiii. 7-14. The 
Lord told Moses that the Israelites were a stiff-necked 
people, given up to idols, and announced their consequent 
fate in these strange words: ''Now, therefore, let me 
alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and 
that I may consume them." But Moses was emphatic 
and plain-spoken in his remonstrance, for such it may be 
iustly termed. "Turn from thy fierce wrath," says he, 
without flinching, "and repent of thy evil against thy 
people." We know what ensued; "And the Lord 
repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his 
people." 

But let us pass on, from the attempt to assimilate the 
Creator and the creature, so far as passions and sensations 
are concerned, and observe how this degrading process 
has been applied to corporeal resemblance. Head, feet, 



180 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

arms, hands, eyes, mouth, nostrils, back and bosom, figure 
more or less frequently — bnt always with a familiarity 
that ought to be revolting — in the Biblical descriptions 
and allusions. 

" Ephraim is the strength of my head/ 1 says the 
Psalmist, lx. 7 ; Isaiah, lix. 17, puts " a helmet of sal- 
vation upon his head;" and St. John the divine — Beve- 
lations, xix. 12 — saw in a vision that "on his head were 
many crowns." The footsteps and the feet of the Al- 
mighty are often referred to; as in Isaiah, vi. 2, — "With 
twain He covered his face, and with twain He covered his 
feet ;" Psalm, lxxvii. 19, " Thy footsteps are not known," 
and lxxiv. 3, " Lift up thy feet ;" Revelations, i. 15, "His 
feet like unto fine brass." Further than this, we find, 
Psalm, cviii. 9, — the homely expression : " Over Edom 
will I cast out my shoe," coupled with that other most 
undignified phrase: " Moab is my wash-pot." — The arms 
of the Almightv are often mentioned, sometimes as bared 
for the execution of His vengeful purposes, sometimes as 
opened for sheltering the righteous. — The hand of the 
Lord, as though it were a human hand, appears still more 
frequently in the sacred Scriptures. — Psalm, lxxv. 8 — " In 
the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red." 
1 Samuel, v. 6 — " But the hand of the Lord was heavy 
upon them of Ashdocl;" Numbers, xi. 23 — " Is the Lord's 
hand waxed short?" Exodus, ix. 3 — "The hand is upon 
thy cattle;" — Psalm, lxxiv. 2; "Why withdrawest thou 
thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy 
bosom." This last citation serves to illustrate how the 
Lord God is supposed to have a bosom, being more direct 
than that one in John, i. 18, "The Son which is in the 
bosom of the Father." — So constant are allusions to the 
Almighty's mouth, and to what proceedeth out of it, that 



GOD LIKENED TO MAN CORPOREALLY. 181 

we limit ourselves to one note-worthy instance. In the 
Book of Numbers, xii. 8, God is made to say with refer- 
ence to Moses : " With him will I speak mouth to mouth, 
even apparently, and not in dark speeches, and the simili- 
tude of the Lord shall he behold." — As to the eyes of 
God, reference to them, in as it were a physical sense, is 
continual. Thus, in Proverbs, xv. 3, we read : " The eyes 
of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the 
good ;" in Deuteronomy, xxxii. 10 — ■" He kept him as the 
apple of His eye ;" and in Psalm, xxxiv. 15, — " The eyes 
of the Lord are upon the righteous." The verse last 
quoted concludes thus, "and his ears are open unto their 
cry," which reminds us that we omitted the "ears," when 
naming the bodily points wherein God and man are fami- 
liarly assimilated in the Scriptures. Mention is also made 
of the Almighty's nostrils. " By the blast of God they 
perish," says Job, iv. 9 — "and by the breath of His 
nostrils are they consumed." David, 2 Samuel, xxii. 9, 
asserts that, because God was wroth, " There went up a 
smoke out of His nostrils, and fire went out of His mouth, 
which kindleth coals." Is it not somewhat strange, that 
expressions, precisely similar, are applied by Job, xli. 20, 
21 — to his description of the leviathan : " Out of his nos- 
trils goeth smoke. * * * His breath kindleth coals." 
Furthermore, Isaiah, lxv. 5 — makes the Lord, with refer- 
ence to " a rebellious people," use this expression : " These 
are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day ;" 
and in Leviticus, xxvi. 31 — Jehovah declares: "I will 
not smell the savor of your sweet odors." On the other 
hand, in Genesis, viii. 21 — we are told how the Lord God, 
inhaling the scent of Noah's sacrifice on emerging from 
the ark, "smelled a sweet savor." — Lastly, as though to 
lower still more these associations and similitudes, so 



182 ONE RELIGION: MANY GREEDS. 

derogatory to all reverential feeling, Holy Writ informs 
us that the Divine Being has a back. Jeremiah, xviii. 
17, puts this phrase in his mouth: "I will scatter them 
as with an east wind before the enemy ; I will shew them 
the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity ;" 
and Isaiah says, xxxviii. 17 — "Thou hast cast all my 
sins behind thy back." Moses also — Exodus, xxxiii. 23, 
makes the Lord say, in anticipation of the promised inter- 
view : " And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt 
see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen." 

We have thus glanced in detail at some of the instances, 
in which the mysterious Founder and Ruler of the Uni- 
verse is vulgarized and falsified in the Bible, by human 
beings presuming to attribute to Him a share in their 
own mental and corporeal faculties. To them might be 
added the profane and inadmissible idea of Jehovah 
speaking to Moses "face to face, as a man speaketh unto 
his friend," — Exodus, xxxiii. 2; — of God riding upon a 
cherub and flying, — Psalm, xviii. 10; — of the Lord being 
"a man of war," and of his wearing a "vesture" or a 
"breast-plate ;" of the Lord coming down to see the Tower 
of Babel, — Genesis, xi. 5. As well might it be thought 
in accordance with God's justice, that He should, through 
Moses, enjoin the Israelites to borrow jewels of gold and 
silver from their Egyptian neighbors, when on the point 
of departure through the Bed Sea. They must have 
known, as God must have known, that the pretended 
borrowing would be nothing better than fraud and rob- 
bery. — Exodus, xii. 35, 36. 

It has been well asked whether a mandate ever issued 
from the lips of a blood-thirsty Oriental despot more terri- 
ble than that concerning Amalek, which is quoted above ; 
and whether we, at the peril of our salvation, are to 



BLIND RELIANCE ON SCRIPTURE. 183 

believe that such an injunction came from the Creator, 
rather than from the mouth of the cruel-minded Samuel, 
who " hewed Agog in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." 
To this may be added the query, with reference to several 
of the foregoing citations, whether any Christian would 
tolerate, in the way of illustration, a statue or picture, 
wherein the Almighty Father was depicted as a human 
being inflamed with human passions ; though, when the 
ear alone is appealed to, we not only tolerate the idea, but 
cling to it with such passionate earnestness as to persecute 
with the extreme of resentment any one who will not 
adopt it as an article of his creed. How, also, can the 
God who affirms, "I am the Lord, I change not," (Mala- 
chi, iii. 6,) be described by different individuals, as con- 
stantly varying, unless they themselves were giving utter- 
ance to their own human conceptions of what a God 
should be ; and even, in this, differed amongst them- 
selves ? Is it not more rational, to believe that God has 
been clothed with human attributes by man, rather than 
than that the Lord of all creation puts on the contempti- 
ble dress worn by mortals who live in one of the smallest 
of the worlds which He has made ? Surely such con- 
siderations should serve to wean us from that blind rever- 
ence to the identical words of Scripture, in which most of 
us have been educated. Nor can this reverence be justi- 
fied by affirming that the language, to which we have 
taken exception, is only conventional or metaphorical. 
Who shall dare to say that God cannot give such a 
description of Himself as is consistent with His attri- 
butes, except through a certain phraseology? The idea 
is impious, as every thoughtful mind must recognize. At 
the same time it must be owned, that this habit of incor- 
porating humanity with the God-head -has taken hold of 



184 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

all nations in all time, and has, so to say, been rubbed 
into all theologies. How far this arises from man's ina- 
bility to comprehend what lies outside of and beyond him- 
self, is touched upon elsewhere ; but there can be no 
doubt that it has been fostered, in large degree, by what 
a writer already cited, has termed the exigencies of the 
priesthood. 

Without the fiction, says he, that the Almighty heard 
and spoke in reply to a special class only, the hierarchy 
could not exist. They feign, therefore, to have divine 
powers — a pretension readily conceded, by those who are 
unable or unwilling to think for themselves. By this 
division of labor, the ecclesiastic becomes as implicitly 
trusted as the lawyer or the physician. But, as there is 
in all educated men a propensity to search out the founda- 
tion of the claim to superiority which is advanced by 
professional men generally, so also is there, in some, a 
strong determination to examine the claims of those who 
assume the power to dictate to the Almighty, what He is 
to do with mortals when they become immortal. 

If investigation and the light of modern science, acting 
upon our finer sense, overthrow our faith in the Bible, 
as an inspired record, they lead us to a more profound 
acknowledgement of the Almighty's power, justice, and 
wisdom. "God is a spirit, and they who worship Him 
must worship Him in spirit and in truth." This is alto- 
gether a different thing, from a blind reliance upon the 
utterances of prophets and the interpretations of priests. 

The most pernicious error of church teaching is, that 
sin can be compounded for, that the just punishment due 
to sin can be evaded through what theologians call " The 
scheme of salvation." Now the natural effect of this 
popular dogma is, that those who believe, or think they 



COMPOUNDING FOR SIN. 185 

believe, such teaching concern themselves more about the 
escape they are to make from punishment, than they do 
about the shunning of sin. While men act upon the idea 
that the penalty for sin can be avoided or bargained for, 
they are comparatively indifferent to any work of self- 
discipline, or the correction of their faults. All this is 
at direct variance with the teachings of God, through 
His natural laws. He therein recompenses every man 
according to his works. In this there is no prejudice, no 
favor, no spite, no partiality, no escape from just penalty, 
no possibility of losing a just reward, no bargaining, no 
compromise, no evasion, no substitution. Any one of 
these would be less just and good, than for God to exact 
the whole penalty attached to the breach of His inex- 
orable law. He punishes to correct, to bring to repent- 
ance, to save to the blissful end in store for us. 

The third chapter in Genesis professes to give an 
account of man's first sin, and has been made the basis 
of that fundamental article of the Christian faith, "The 
fall of man." The conclusions drawn from this chapter 
are not warranted by the words of the narrative, which 
we shall now proceed to show. 

Not once in the Old Testament, either in the law or in 
the Prophets, is the story at all alluded to. All their 
notions of God and man were totally at variance with the 
idea of man having been made originally perfect. Jesus 
never alluded to this in any of his discourses ; on the 
contrary, he declares that there is none perfect but God ; 
and this, taken in connection with the fact that he 
nowhere intimates that man fell through Adam, ought to 
be conclusive with all who believe in Jesus' divinity, that 
man was no more perfect at the Creation, than he was in 
Jesus' day, or in our own. The first time that Moses' 



186 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

story is appealed to as historical, is in the writings of the 
Apostle Paul. It is upon his probable acceptance of the 
narrative, in an unwarranted literal sense, and upon false 
inferences drawn by him from it, that the prevailing idea 
of the utter corruption and curse of mankind, through the 
fall, and of their recovery or redemption by the substitu- 
tion of a victim in their place, is founded. 

But see what serious results this leads to. All who 
believe the doctrine of Christian theology which is based 
upon man's supposed original perfection and subsequent 
fall, it is said, will be saved : but all who do not believe 
in it will be damned. To admit this is to represent God 
as cursing the whole human family, for the sin of one of 
their number ; and only removing that curse from those 
who believe in the shedding of the innocent blood of a 
victim, of whom but a small minority have ever heard. 

The error which lies at the root of this delusion is the 
idea, that man was originally made perfect ; and that he 
fell from that state of purity and perfection, dragging with 
him his whole posterity. Now we boldly assert that 
Adam and Eve were not created spiritually perfect as 
God is perfect, but perfect as God intended that man 
should be. The story itself not only does not say that 
they were ; it gives not the remotest intimation of such 
a thing. They are represented as believing a serpent, or 
perhaps the evidence of their own senses, rather than the 
words of God, and as soon as they are tempted they yield 
at once. 

The fact is, they could not have been made perfect. 
There is no such thing as perfection in any created being. 
If there were, there would be more Gods than one : for 
whatever is perfect is God. 



ADAM'S DOOM NOT SPIRITUAL. 187 

But this inference is evaded by a qualification. Theo- 
logians tell us that they mean relative perfection — not 
that man could be made perfect as God is perfect, but 
that he was made good and happy. This we admit ; 
God could not make anything but what is good and happy. 
But He could, and did make beings, who, when they 
were produced by His wisdom and goodness, were not 
only without a knowledge of physical cause and effect, 
but without a knowledge also of moral cause and effect. 
All that took place with regard to man's experience of 
good and evil was, that being created with a free-will he 
at once put that free-will into full exercise, and of course 
learned what he did not know until the experiment was 
tried. 

Again, there is not a word in the story about everlast- 
ing death, or the torment of the soul. " Ye shall surely 
die," was understood by Adam and Eve as referring to the 
death of the body ; because the narrator goes on to describe 
their being driven out of Paradise, lest they should eat of 
the tree of life, and live forever. Nothing can be plainer 
than that natural death is here meant. This view of the 
subject is further enforced by the following declaration, 
11 Unto dust shalt thou return." The Apostle Paul quotes 
it in that sense, when he says, " By one man sin entered 
into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed 
upon all men, for that all have sinned," though the first 
part of this assertion is shown elsewhere to be inaccurate, 
inasmuch as science proves that death had entered the 
world long before the date assigned by theologists. Again, 
there is no allusion whatever to a substitute or sacrifice as 
the mode of removing the curse, and appeasing the wrath 
of God. There is not a single word spoken by God to 
Adam and Eve about redemption or atonement. If such 



188 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

a theory had been true — if the narrative in Genesis were 
supernaturaily suggested — it would surely have contained 
some intimation of it, when God pronounced the curse. 
This being a matter of the very highest importance, not 
only to Adam and Eve, but also to their posterity, we can- 
not conceive, the goodness of God precludes the bare idea, 
that he could have withheld it from man. 

The answer to this is, that God did, at once, inform 
Adam of his intention ; that He gave him a distinct and 
unmistakable intimation of it when He said, "I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy 
seed and her seed : it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt 
bruise his heel." — Genesis, iii. 15. But how can this be 
called a plain and unmistakable intimation of the scheme 
of salvation ? It is as dark a parable as any that could 
be constructed ; and we think it so obscure, except as to 
the natural enmity that exists between the two, that it 
would be useless to argue on it. 

Turn, in the next place, to the statement, "And the 
Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of 
Eden, to dress it and to keep it." — Gen. ii. 15. 

Church theology inculcates the idea that labor was 
imposed upon Adam in consequence of his first transgres- 
sion ; but it is evident, from the above text, that previous 
to Adam's sinning, as it is called, the dressing and keep- 
ing of the garden was enjoined on him. This, no one can 
deny, was bodily labor, by any fair interpretation. Adam 
was also required to give names to every living creature. 
Could he have done this, except at the expense of mental 
labor, even though every beast of the field and every fowl 
of the air was brought to him for this purpose ? 

As a consequence of Adam's eating the fruit, God cursed 
the serpent who tempted him, through Eve, as well as the 



THE STORY OF THE FALL OF MAN. ; 189 

ground upon which he trod ; neither of which is supposed 
to be morally accountable. The curse on the serpent, such 
as it was, in any sense is applicable only to his physical 
nature. 

And the curses, referred to, which pertain to man, do 
not necessarily grow out of man's moral offence. The fair 
inference is the reverse of this. The sin, according to the 
narration, was prompted by the craving of man's animal 
nature, not at the expense of any moral delinquency, such, 
for instance, as appropriating the fruits of a fellow-being's 
labor, in a dishonest way. For, according to the story, 
Adam and Eve were the only persons then upon the earth, 
and being in harmony, it is said, in partaking of the 
fruit ; their action consequently involved no sin — one 
against the other. 

A sense of shame, occasioned by the sudden discovery 
of the nakedness of one's person does not involve the idea 
of moral degradation ; it rather indicates a lively percep- 
tion of the propriety of things ; and wjien this state of 
things is accompanied with strenuous efforts to hide the 
nakedness which caused the shame, as in Adam's and 
Eve's case, it is highly deserving of praise. If the story 
be credited, such must have been the view which God 
took of the matter, when he sympathized with them to 
the extent of helping the naked pair out of their dilemma 
by clothing them with skins, thus rewarding instead of 
punishing them and showing that their course met God's 
approbation, instead of condemnation. Hence, the eaters 
of the forbidden fruit could not have been deemed guilty 
by God, at least, in a moral point of view, else he would 
have left them to the punishment, which under his unal- 
terable laws ever attaches to moral delinquencies. This 
view is fully sustained by the narrative of the matter in 



190 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

question ; the only punishment which is indicated therein, 
being death of the body, and labor, which we assert is a 
blessing, and not a curse. 

There is another view of this subject, which is adverse 
to theologians. The reading of Genesis leaves the impres- 
sion, that a very short time only could have elapsed 
between the eating of the fruit, which it is alleged brought 
death into the world, and the time of God's clothing the 
naked pair with the skins of animals. Now, if it be true 
that, up to the eating of the fruit by Adam, none of God's 
creatures had died, it begets the query, how it came to 
pass that that there were skins of animals immediately at 
hand in a fit condition for comfortable clothing. 

If, to account for these inconsistencies, it be said that 
God can do all things that he wills to do, we answer that 
when men say God has done things totally inconsistent 
with his uniform mode of action, and give no reliable 
proof of the truth of their assertion, we have a right to 
infer even more ; and to be quite sure that the story has 
its origin in man's imagination and not in the doings of 
God. This story in Genesis rests upon the sole authority 
of Moses; it is irrational, improbable, and contradictory to 
itself; but worse than this, the Church has founded a 
theology upon it, totally unwarranted by the wording or 
spirit of the narrative. 

The gist of the theological system consists in their 
claiming that Adam's alleged sin tainted his moral nature; 
and this enables them to transfer the final test of the 
truth or fallacy of their dogma beyond the grave. Thus, 
they elude detection of their error, since no man returns 
thence to confront them. 

One of the evils inflicted upon Adam according to the 
narrative was additional labor, not labor primarily. 



ITS INCONSISTENCIES. 191 

The ground, by virtue of the curse, became harder to 
till, outside, than within the garden in which he was first 
placed. It was, therefore, the body, and not the moral 
nature of Adam, that had to pay the penalty, if penalty 
it be to labor, which we deny. 

And again, Eve was visited with increased pain in 
child-bearing, and not with any new source of sorrow. 
This also pertains to the body. It is not a consequence 
of moral guilt, not entailing inward reproaches, as when 
one offends against the laws of chastity, for example. 
And if these evils in our physical nature do terminate in 
the death of the body, the death of the body is an advan- 
tage, because it leaves the soul untrammelled, and ena- 
bles it to draw nearer to God, who is the source of happi- 
ness. 

** And the Lord God said, behold the man is become as 
one of us to know good and evil." — Genesis, iii. 22. If 
this be true, God looked upon man, after his transgres- 
sion, as more like Himself than before. He certainly 
became a wiser being ; and we cannot understand how 
wisdom can be a curse to man. It brought with it a 
knowledge, that if we offend against the laws of God we 
must suffer for it. But God was too good to allow us to 
go on suffering in this world forever, for our short-sighted- 
ness and folly : He therefore made it impossible for us 
to do so, by allowing death to terminate our career. That 
man might not go further, and take and eat of the fruits 
of life, and live forever, God allowed death to be made 
the gate, through which we are to pass to a state of ever- 
lasting progression in wisdom and felicity. 

But to go further into this incredible narrative — " And 
they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not 
ashamed." — Genesis, ii. 25. This happy state of nudity 



192 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and innocence, then, was that which they gloried in, before 
the fall. But what next? When they discovered, by 
eating of the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil, that the condition in which they were was unseemly, 
they experienced a sense of shame, as indicated by their 
use of fig leaves, and they were afraid, and went and hid 
themselves ; and so, when God found them thus, in order 
■to hide their nakedness, we are told, " Unto Adam also 
and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins and 
clothed them." — Genesis, iii. 21. 

These, then, are the consequences of Adam and Eve's 
eating of the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and 
evil. Being redeemed or saved from them, of course the 
converse becomes the proper order of things. So that, 
when a man is redeemed or saved to eternal life by the 
plan of salvation through Jesus, he might go naked and 
feel no shame ! 

Again, " Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from 
the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was 
taken." (Genesis, iii. 23.) It appears from the scope of 
this verse, that God turned Adam out of Paradise to till 
the ground outside of its limits, not because he ate of the 
fruit by means of which he had assimilated himself to 
God by gaining a knowledge of good and evil, but rather 
lest Adam should partake of the tree of life, and live 
forever, and thus reverse one of the results of his partak- 
ing of the fruits of the tree of knowledge, to wit, the 
mortality of the body. So God compromised the matter, 
being content to let all the consequences of eating the 
forbidden fruit remain, except that the body should 
return to the dust whence it was taken. And to make 
quite sure that Adam did not render this inoperative, 
He placed a guard over the tree of life. This, we con- 



BIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL OF MAN. 193 

ceive to be the natural rendering of the story of "The 
Fall," and this, if any credence is to be given to it at all, 
must be much nearer the truth than the different and far- 
fetched construction which the Christian Churches put on 
it when they deduce from it the doctrine that man fell 
from the original state of innocence, that he must be 
redeemed therefrom by the sacrifice of Christ, and that 
our salvation depends on our belief in this complicated 
dog;ma. 

We subnet then, is not the course which is attributed 
to God, in the fable we have just criticised, an imputation 
against His omnipotence, His wisdom, and His stability 
of purpose ? His laws are immutable ; they never vary ; 
and from the first they were framed for man's best inter- 
ests and happiness. The death of the material portion 
of animals is one of those laws, which was in the order 
of things from the first. Had it been otherwise, the 
increase of the human race, at the rate at which men 
have multiplied since the creation, would have been suffi- 
cient to fill the earth so full, that they could not find 
standing room, not to say food enough to subsist upon. 
No, God has a more beneficent purpose in view, than to 
make earth man's continual abiding place. He places 
us here, that he may train us for a much higher and 
wider state of existence beyond the grave Death, then, 
was no accident ; neither was it visited upon man as a 
punishment for his delinquencies, but as an important 
step in his advance toward God. 

What theologians term " The Fall of Man," is based 
by them upon the fable in the first book of Moses, called 
" Genesis," the substance of which is as follows : The 
first human pair was placed in the garden of Eden, where 
everything around them was in perfect harmony with 
13 



J 94 ONE RELIGION: MANY GREEDS. 

their nature, their tastes, and their appetites : " And the 
Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden : and there 
he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the 
ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is 
pleasant to the sight, and good for food." 

In the first place, it is said, or may be inferred from 
subsequent words, that in some respects Nature itself was 
very different from what we find it now. Originally, 
there were no such things as thorns, or briars, or noxious 
weeds and plants infesting the ground and ajpnoying and 
perplexing the man, who was placed upon the earth to 
enjoy perpetual happiness thereon. These things sprang 
up at, and in consequence of ; the sin of Adam. 

"And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast heark- 
ened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the 
tree of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not 
eat of it : cursed is the ground for thy sake : in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns 
also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee ; and thou 
shalt eat the herb of the field." 

The elements also were so propitious, and the climate 
so congenial and healthy ; that they suffered no incon- 
venience from the former, nor could the seeds of disease 
be implanted within them by the latter, although their 
physical construction was precisely what it is now. " They 
were both naked," implying that, having neither the rigor 
of coldness in winter nor the fierceness of heat in summer 
to contend with, their bodies did not therefore require any 
protection in the way of clothes. This is further implied 
by the theological view, that man — if he had not fallen — 
was to live without labor, and hence could not have pro- 
vided himself with clothing. Since animals also were to 
live forever, man could not be clothed with their skins ; 



BIBLE ACCOUNT OF THE FALL OF MAN. 195 

and yet, contrary as it may seem to this idea, God made 
them garments, or coats of skins, as soon as their sense 
of shame made it necessary. Again, " For in the day 
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die," implies 
that but for an act of disobedience — which he might or 
might not commit — neither death, nor its antecedents, 
pain and disease, could have ever visited them. Neither 
was the nature of the animals what it subsequently 
became. They were all peaceful and happy and harmo- 
nious, none carnivorous ; but all gregarious and living 
upon herbs : " And to every beast of the earth, and to 
every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth 
upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every 
green herb for meat." Man himself was an entirely dif- 
ferent creature to what he became, immediately after eat- 
ing the fruit of which God his Maker had commanded 
him not to eat. He was good and holy and just and 
true ; and consequently he was perfectly happy. 

This is, substantially, a picture of what is presented to 
us from the pulpit, concerning man and his estate before 
he ate of the forbidden fruit. It is what is claimed by 
theologians as a fair deduction from the account given in 
the Book of Moses, to which we have referred. 

But is it in accordance with the facts or phenomena 
of Nature, and with the wisdom of God ? If this dogma 
of the Church be true, it results in lowering the attributes 
of the Almighty, and in representing Him as a Being 
whose laws and plans, pertaining to all created things, 
were liable to be thwarted by a single act of His creature 
man ; and to the extent of necessitating an entire revision 
of those laws and those plans. It results in an imputa- 
tion upon His omnipotence, His wisdom, His goodness, 
and His unchangeableness. It results in the theory that 



196 ONE RELIGION: MANY GREEDS. 

man — both constitutionally and morally — is not the same 
being that he was at his creation, or at the time when he 
was first called to take upon hirn the original organism of 
his type. In a word, it results in the imputation that 
God, who, according to His very nature, never varies nor 
modifies nor adapts His laws to any contingency, was — 
instead of being supreme — so far subject to the caprice of 
man as to be compelled to abandon His original plan, and 
reconstruct or re-organize His laws pertaining to the vege- 
table, animal, and spiritual affairs of our globe. Now God 
is a Being of absolute powers and perfections, of infinite 
wisdom and goodness ; and by necessity, in carrying out 
His designs at creation, He must have made everything 
perfect both as a whole and in its several parts, so that 
entire harmony ensues and no revision or amendment is 
admissible. God made man with such faculties, physi- 
cally and mentally and morally, as in His wisdom He 
deemed best. He is omniscient and unchangeable. He 
cannot therefore be turned aside in His purposes. That 
infinite goodness and wisdom, which originally governed 
Him in His designs toward man, must ever remain 
intact. Man was made perfect, as man, and no higher, 
else he would have been something more, or other, 
than man. Nothing is conceivable of God, -than that 
everything which He has created, and the laws by which 
His creation is governed, have been and must be from 
first to last in perfect harmony each with the other, and 
with His will and pleasure. It is indispensable that they 
should be. But how does this accord with Christian 
theology, according to which, a single breach of Adam's 
duty wrought a total change in most, if not all, of God's 
original ordinances in relation to man, the lower animals, 
and even the plants ? 



MAN'S ORIGINAL CONDITION. 197 

Let us look at this matter more closely. If God's 
original design in regard to man and His ordinances for 
the accomplishment of His designs were in exact con- 
formity with each and every part of His general plan, 
nothing wanting, nothing useless ; and if His original 
plan and purpose was what theologians assert it to have 
been — then certain properties and affections, which now 
pertain to our nature, had no use or part in that organi- 
zation. Up to the time of Adam's first transgression, 
there could have been no repugnance to evil, since evil 
was not then contemplated by God. There could have 
been no preference for the good, since there was nothing 
contrary thereto, there being no evil with which to con- 
trast the good. Conscience could have had no existence 
in man. Sin being a surprise to God, conscience to 
rebuke it could have had no part in God's original design. 
Modesty, that exquisite trait in the nature of man, could 
have had no part in his original constitution, since God 
did not foresee that the first pair would do that which 
made their nakedness appear in a new light to them. 
And yet, according to the narrative, the instant it was 
called into requisition, modesty very naturally performed 
the duties of its office — even before God had called the 
offenders to account for doing that which required its 
first blush. This shows that man was at first as now ; 
and is of itself fatal to the theological deduction from 
the narrative as it stands. And now, before proceeding 
to show at some length, how absurd is the theological 
view of the consequences entailed upon certain parts of 
animal creation by Adam's fall, we interpolate one remark 
that properly belongs to a more general consideration of 
the subject. Theologians hold and repeat unceasingly 
that death is but the passage or gate to heaven which 



198 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

opens to those who believe. If this be so, it follows — 
according to the doctrine that Adam and all his posterity 
were originally intended to dwell forever in this lower 
world — that if Adam had not sinned we should all have 
been deprived of that blissful abode, which we are led to 
believe is a transcenclantly more happy place than was 
even Paradise itself! So that, notwithstanding man is 
said to have done very wrong in disobeying God, yet he 
did the very best that he could for his own advantage. 
The Church, perhaps, may be able to reconcile this diffi- 
culty, when it explains why man is permitted to eat meat, 
though God said to him: "Thou shalt eat the herb of the 
field." God's perfection is a guarantee of the exact fit- 
ness and harmony of His creation as a whole, and as 
seen in the various laws, means, and appliances for carry- 
ing out His purposes. There is nothing wanting, nothing 
useless — each and every part being indispensable to the 
accomplishment of His perfect end. Now this involves 
that, if God's original purpose in creating what pertains 
to this earth was in accordance with the theory of the 
Christian theology on the subject, to wit, — that all God's 
creatures were to live forever happy, and in harmony with 
each other, committing no breach of His laws, having no 
pain, misery, or discomfort, either of body or mind — then, 
the instant Adam first disobeyed these laws, the harmony 
and fitness of all must have been changed, to produce 
another harmony under the condition of things as they 
now exist. Adam, himself, must necessarily have been 
reorganized. He must instantly have been so trans- 
formed, as to adopt him to his present wants and his 
present nature. In fact this change relates alike to all 
men, to the intuitions, instincts, and physical structure of 
all, and to every property of the body and mind of all. 



INSTANT CHANGE IN ANIMAL LIFE. 199 

And thus also with the lower creation. All the birds, 
fishes, animals, and insects, that are now carnivorous, 
must have had their instinctive propensities altered. 
New means* of capturing, eating and digesting such food 
as they now eat must have been instantly furnished 
them, to accommodate them to the new order of things — 
an immense work to be performed, as it seems to us, on 
account of so unimportant a transaction as that to which 
it is attributed. The beasts and birds of prey must have 
been provided with sharp fangs and hooked claws, to 
enable them to secure their victims ; and the appliances 
which they have for masticating flesh, must have been 
given them at the same time. All the animals and birds 
that feed upon carrion must have had their cravings of 
appetite adapted to such food, and their sense of smell 
made surprisingly keen, to apprise them of its locality at 
long distances. The hen must have been gifted with the 
instinct, that causes her to call her chickens under her 
wings, when the hawk is in sight. The dog must have 
had the instinct given him, that warns him of danger 
when he smells a snake whose bite he, intuitively, knows 
to be fatal. The instinct that makes living things flee, 
or otherwise strive to protect themselves, when their 
natural antagonist presents itself, must also have been 
called into requisition. In fact, all the instincts and 
propensities that pertain to the preservation of life, and 
to defence at the approach of a natural enemy, must have 
been given to all living things, the moment death became 
inaugurated because of Adam's sin. 

Again, all living creatures, that, in their living state, 
are designed as food, for other living creatures, must have 
had their means and propensity for propagating their kind 



200 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

materially increased, to answer to the state of things that 
then came about. 

If God's purposes were, that animated things should 
not prey upon each other, why did He make such numer- 
ous kinds and species of animals, birds, insects and fish, 
with organs, functions, instincts and propensities, espe- 
cially adapted and only calculated for the purpose? 
Why did He not endow them with those other faculties 
absolutely necessary for maintaining life according to 
what theologians call God's original plan? That God 
from their creation, intended that one creature should 
prey upon another, is strongly indicated by the fact, that 
those animals, birds and fishes of the larger series, which 
are not liable to be used as food by others, propagate their 
kind in much less abundance than do those which are 
made to be devoured: What vast, but what appropriate 
disproportion is there between sharks and herrings, 
between hawks and sparrows, between tigers and buf- 
faloes, between swallows and insects on the wing ! 

Again : it is certain that, to maintain the o -der and fit- 
ness of things which God designed, animals of all kinds 
require a certain area or space for their occupancy, in pro- 
portion to their numbers. It is also apparent that the 
aggregate of animal life is materially increased by the 
different kinds and varieties of species that exist; and 
that the well-being of each is promoted by the existence 
of not over a certain number of another kind. That is to 
say, there might have been too many of one or more kinds 
to produce the best result. If this be true, it is probable 
that the devouring of one by another is among the means 
that Nature uses for preventing this inconvenience. There 
is another provision of Nature apparently tending to the 
same end — it has been ordained that an insect shall, under 



DEATH INDISPENSABLE. 201 

certain contingencies, deposit its eggs in or on the body of 
another living insect or animal of a different species. The 
effect of this is to increase the number of one, and to 
diminish that of the other kind. This provision of 
Nature, whereby insects and other animate things feed 
one upon another and upon the eggs of each other, is, we 
say, among the arrangements of God to maintain an equi- 
librium, or proper proportion between the kinds, and to 
prevent the earth from being overstocked, as it soon would 
be under the theological version of God's original decrees. 
The same arrangement prevails with regard to the birds 
of the air, and the beasts of the field and forest. Life and 
death are linked together, and depend on each other by 
and through God's ordinances in such a way that it is not 
possible that it can have been anything else than His 
original purpose that they should both prevail. The prey- 
ing of one species of animated nature upon another is 
totally at variance with the dogmas of the theologians on 
this very subject. They say that it was God's original 
design that all living things that came into being on the 
earth or in the waters should live forever. The fallacy of 
this is at once shown by the use of figures. At the rate 
at which living things now multiply, the number would 
very soon be so great, if all continued to live, that further 
increase in numbers would be totally impracticable. This 
result would render all the provisions that now exist for 
the production and consequent perpetuation of animal life 
perfectly useless. And yet these embrace so wide a range 
and are so intimately interwoven with the organs, func- 
tions, and instincts of animal nature that it is impossible 
to conceive that God's plan for perpetuating the inhabi- 
tants of the world was not at first as now. It is impossible 
to conceive, for example, that the beautiful and pure rela- 



202 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

tionship which exists between parents and children should 
not remain an ever-living and active principle — a never- 
ceasing symbol, in some degree parallel to the relationship 
that exists between God, who is a Father and more than a 
Father, and all His happy children, here and hereafter — a 
monument of His benign goodness to all the children of 
men. To return to our point : even the living things of 
the sea must have had their nature greatly changed. 
Before death came into the world through Adam's sin, 
they must have fed on the fruits and herbs of their own 
expansive and aquatic fields. It is true that the primary 
source whence food is derived for the growth and support 
of animals is in the air, in the water, and in the earth. 
It is also true that animals cannot draw their support 
directly from the inorganic matter contained in these ele- 
ments. It can only be converted into pabulum adapted 
to their support by and through the instrumentality of 
plants. Vegetation, therefore, links together animal life 
and inorganic matter. Vegetation is the prime medium 
in bringing the means of life and animation out of inert 
matter. On the land, where plants are in greater abun- 
dance and enjoy more of the elements of thrift than is the 
case in the sea, their office is performed more extensively ; 
and the pabulum suitable for the sustenance of both large 
and small animals is furnished in much greater abundance 
than is the case in relation to those which inhabit the 
waters, and derive their support through the medium of 
animalcules. Out of this results the important office of 
the animalcules that exist in such vast numbers in water. 
They save up and accumulate, as it were, the comparative 
lesser supply of food by aquatic plants. When inorganic 
matter has once passed through the medium of plants into 
suitable food for annuals, it is retained in that state 



THE FOOD OF ANIMALS. 203 

through the instrumentality of animalcules, which serve 
as a guard over every avenue of its return into its original 
state. In this way abundant means of food is furnished 
to all the grades of aquatic animal life ; and thus the other- 
wise too scanty vegetation of the waters is made sufficient 
to the end in view. The plant product — the organic mat- 
ter, be it vegetable or animal — is seized upon in all its 
stages of decomposition by the animalcules which exist in 
myriads, and is thus converted into their own tissue, and 
turned back into animal life in its various grades, they 
themselves being preyed upon by larger classes of animals. 
Now, all this is a part of a vast, complicated, and yet 
harmonious system ordained by God, and made to operate 
in perfect accordance with all his other systems. This 
perfect whole is entirely at variance with the idea of the 
theologians, that God's original purpose was that each 
individual creature in the sea, as well as on land, should 
live forever on vegetable matter alone — that is to say, if 
the inhabitants of the waters were to exist in anything 
like the numbers in which we find them now. If vege- 
table matter only was to be food for them, such food must 
have been vastly increased in quantity. Otherwise, not 
one aquatic animal could exist, in proportion to the thou- 
sands that now teem in the waters. And the same would 
have been the case, in a less degree, with land animals, if 
all were dependent on vegetable food alone and one did 
not prey upon the other. We conclude, therefore, that, if 
the theological view of the original ordinances of God. in 
relation to animal creation is right, then the animalcules 
found both in fresh and salt water, in which decaying 
vegetable or animal matter exists, had no office, or at least 
not their present use in the economy of Nature. 



204 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Let us look now at another branch of this interesting 
subject. To ensure that the face of the earth shall be 
perpetually clothed with verdure, most beautiful to the 
eye and most pleasing to the taste, God has caused the 
seeds of innumerable varieties of plants to be produced 
in superabundance, to be wafted by the winds or carried 
by the waters over and through hill and dale and valley, 
and sowed by the birds of the air and the beasts of the 
field and forest. Numerous and manifold are the seeds 
thus scattered abroad ; and these take root and spring up, 
in proportion to the space and fertility of trie soil requi- 
site for the rearing of healthy specimens. The multi- 
plicity of seeds, and the varied and ample mode of dis- 
tribution that prevails, not only ensures that there shall 
be no lack in numbers and dissemination ; it furnishes an 
abundance from which to select the best samples. This 
God has provided for by His unalterable laws, as well in 
the vegetable as in the animal world. And those laws 
operate in favor of the specimens of each variety, whose 
incipient stage gives the best promise for future excel- 
lence. The young tree or bush, that makes haste — if we 
may so speak — to shoot above and over-top its neighbors, 
receives upon its branches and leaves more light, more 
air, and more of the rays of the sun, so essential to its 
growth, than is the case with the less thrifty of its kind 
standing near by. This is true, in various degrees, with 
every variety of plant and herb. To that which hath, 
more is given. The unthrifty fall a prey to the strong of 
their own, or other kinds ; and this applies with equal, if 
not with greater force, to animal as to vegetable life. 
The weak and unthrifty have impediments thrown in 
their way that the strong know not of. To the same end, 
is the greater belligerent propensity of male than of 



BEAUTIFUL LAWS OF NATURE. 205 

female animals. It is in order that the progeny may be 
sired by the more healthy and vigorous of the respective 
kinds ; and hence a higher grade of excellence is main- 
tained among the animal tribes than would otherwise be 
the case. From this rivalry for precedence in the animal 
department of nature, as well as the vegetable, death 
frequently ensues. Even death, we say, so far as we 
can see, is ordained to the end that life may be more 
abundant, beautiful, and excellent ; that freshness, buoy- 
ancy, and the green leaf may predominate. Was this 
forced unexpectedly upon Omnipotence, by the sin of 
Adam, or was it originally ordained as the result of God's 
wisdom and goodness ? Although we may not compre- 
hend the length and breadth of God's logic in all this, 
nevertheless our faith is complete that it is and was right, 
first and last — Christian theology to the contrary, not- 
withstanding. The present order has, most unquestion- 
ably, much to do with the keeping of all the things of 
the earth, fresh, beautiful, and more comely than would 
otherwise be the case. 

Upon the whole, it is evident, therefore, that the laws 
pertaining to the animal and vegetable portion of the 
world were, at the first, adjusted to the order of things as 
they now exist. Death and decomposition were intended 
constantly to contribute to a new organization of life and 
beauty. If not, Adam's one mistake operated to convict 
God of millions of mistakes, involving a radical change 
in man, and the lower animals to suit them to present cir- 
cumstances. Now, which of these two propositions is the 
more credible, and more in accordance with true religion 
and reverence for our Maker — that God made the blunder 
in question, or that the story has its origin and advocacy 
in the priesthood ? Grant that there was a time when 



206 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

the first man had not performed any act either good or 
bad, pertaining to the duties for which he was held 
responsible. So circumstanced, he was, of course, with- 
out committed sin, and therefore personally innocent. Is 
not this true, at some time, with regard to every man 
that ever arrived at a moral accountability ? In this 
respect, at least, it is evident that all men — including 
Adam — start, on a perfect equality, to traverse their 
course through time and in eternity. Now, that Adam 
was, from the first, gifted with some agency over his 
volitions and actions, and that his original nature and 
knowledge was not such as to ensure that he would not 
err in the exercise of his limited agency, is shown by the 
Bible story of his fall. That he did err, precisely after 
the manner of all men, as soon as he was put to the test, 
is also shown by the same account. 

It is, therefore, difficult to see how it can be said that 
Adam in any way differed, from first to last, from the 
present type of humanity. Standing as a figure of the 
first man, Adam was, at one period of his existence, 
guiltless of any committed or personal sin, and to that 
extent, in God's sight he was innocent, true and good. 
Every man, arriving at a state of accountability, is pre- 
cisely in the same condition. But, say the Churches, 
man's nature is corrupt; he is at enmity with God; 
and this was brought about by Adam's sin, — where is 
the evidence ? If all men, at one period of their lives, 
advance from the same stand-point, all men like Adam, 
being fallible, are not only liable — but they are sure to 
err. Adam so erred, without having been subject to the 
taint of corruption — as the theologians have it — by the 
sin of any preceding man. The Bible narrative on this 
subject leads to the inference, that, very early after he 



GOD'S ORIGINAL LAWS UNCHANGED. 207 

was put to the test of choosing the good and avoiding the 
evil — which is literally the business of life with all men — 
he did precisely the same thing that all other men do. 
At times he did what is right ; and at times he did what 
is wrong. It is in that way we gain experience, and are 
trained to the practice of virtue. God alone is always 
right, always good ; and the idea that He originally 
created man short-sighted and liable to err, as we now see 
him, militates nothing against His goodness, since He has 
ordained that which shall be effectual to the diminution 
of man's ignorance and the supplying of his short-com- 
ings, by His own infinite knowledge and perfection. God 
has never been thwarted, disconcerted, nor interfered with, 
in the slightest degree, by either man or devil. He is 
supreme in all things. His plans and doings were all 
perfect from the first, and need no altering. They cannot 
be altered. The very idea of God, when contemplated in 
the fullness in which it is man's highest privilege to view 
Him, amounts to demonstration that He is unchangeable. 
This alone is consistent with the perfections of God, and 
in direct opposition to the teachings of Christian theology. 
We insist, therefore, that man and all the lower animals 
that now inhabit the earth bear the same stamp and 
impress that God originally gave them ; and that human 
nature is ever the same in its incipient stage — subject to 
be assimilated more and more toward God's perfections, 
under the influence and teaching of His unchanging laws, 
ordained for the purpose at man's creation. This may, 
figuratively, be termed the partaking of the tree of know- 
ledge of good and evil. None are shut out from it. All 
eat of it, even in this first stage of our existence ; but 
with various degrees of success ; and in God's good time, 



20S ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

none will fail to profit by it. We shall eat, and live 
forever. 

If on the other hand, it shall be alleged that God fore- 
saw what Adam would do in the matter in question, and 
provided all things before-hand so as to meet the exact 
case, so say we ; and Adam as the representative of man- 
kind, is now as at first, and as God intended he should be 
from the first. 

In relation to the origin of man, we cite the following 
extracts from Humbolt and other German writers, which 
in substance repudiate the Hebrew tradition : 

" We do not know," says Wilhelm von Humbolt in an 
unpublished work, " either from history or from authentic 
tradition, any period of time in which the human race has 
not been divided into groups. Whether the gregarious 
condition was original, or of subsequent occurrence, we 
have no historic evidence to show. The separate mythi- 
cal relations, found to exist independently of one another 
in different parts of the earth, appear to refute the first 
hypothesis : and concur in ascribing the generation of the 
human race to one pair. The genera] prevalence of this 
myth has caused it to be regarded as a traditionary 
record, transmitted from the primitive man to his descend- 
ants. But this very circumstance seems rather to prove 
that it has no historical foundation, but has simply arisen 
from an identity in the mode of intellectual conception, 
which has everywhere led men to adopt the same conclu- 
sions regarding identical phenomena ; in the same manner 
as many myths have doubtless arisen, not from any his- 
torical connection existing between them, but from an 
identity of human thought and imagination. It is in 
vain that we direct our thoughts to the solution of the 
great problem of the first origin ; since man is too inti- 



ORIGIN OF THE HUMAN RACE. 209 

mately associated with his own race, and with the rela- 
tions of time, to conceive of the existence of an individual, 
independently of a preceding generation and age." 

" Nothing remains but to embrace the opinion, that the 
distinct characteristics of the human race were imprinted 
at all times ; or that in general mankind does not descend 
from one man and woman, — from Adam and Eve — but 
from several human pairs." 

11 Inasmuch, as it has never yet occurred to anybody to 
sustain that all figs have sprung from a solitary primitive 
fig, even as little can any one admit the whole of man- 
kind to be derived lineally from a single human pair. 
Wherever the conditions of life were found, life has 
sprung forth." 

According to these views, the whole story in the Book 
of Genesis relating to Adam and Eve — which is the sole 
authority as to the first human pair being placed in the 
Garden of Eden — is altogether fallacious, a view in which 
we entirely concur. 

Now, as the Christian theology is wholly based on the 
story taken in its literal significance, upon the authority 
of a single person who is claimed to have recorded it two 
thousand years after its supposed occurrence, there is cer- 
tainly left but a very slender foundation, whereon to build 
one's hopes or fears of eternal salvation or destruction. 

We find that, according to Bible narrative, Adam was 
created in such a condition of life that had he not broken 
the commandment of God, he would have enjoyed it in 
the paradise of Eden, everlastingly. But he ate of the 
tree of knowledge of good and evil, of which God had 
told him : "Thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that 
thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." And now, lest 
he should put forth his hand, and eat of the tree of life and 
H 



210 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

live forever, God thrust him out of Paradise. By which 
it appears, that if Adam had not sinned, he would have 
had an eternal life on earth, both bodily and spiritually. 
But, as he di$, physical mortality became the lot, both of 
him and his posterity. Not that actual death then 
entered ; for Adam then could never have had children ; 
whereas, he lived long after, and saw a numerous progeny 
spring up around him. Where therefore it is said, " In 
the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die," — 
Genesis, ii. 17; and, "unto dust shalt thou return," — 
Genesis, iii. 19 ; it must needs be meant that his body 
would become mortal, and be sure to suffer death. 

But, added to this idea, the theology of the Christian 
churches teaches also, that Adam's sin degraded the 
spiritual nature of mankind. This doctrine is not war- 
ranted by the language of the Bible. " For God doth 
know, that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes 
shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good 
and evil." — Genesis, iii. 5. "And the Lord God said, 
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good 
and evil ; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take 
also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever : There- 
fore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of 
Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." — 
Genesis, iii. 22, 23. 

Now, it is difficult so perceive how man's arriving at a 
knowledge of good and evil, and thereby assimilating 
himself to God, is to be construed into man's degradation 
or fall. Is it not rather an advance in the right direc- 
tion? Does not knowledge tend to elevate, rather than 
to degrade? Some knowledge must be had of evil, in 
order to lead us to the highest appreciation of the good, 
the true, and the right. God therefore trains man in the 



ETERNAL LIFE IS TO BE EARTHLY. 211 

direction of his own perfections, by rewarding virtue and 
punishing vice, which tends to constantly increasing 
knowledge of good and evil ; and thus man is conducted 
to the happy destiny which God designed for him. 

But to proceed with the argument on the theory that 
man did fall, and that it became necessary that some one 
should restore him. 

If, as it is said, Jesus has made satisfaction for the sins 
of all that believe in him, and therefore recovers to all 
believers that " Eternal life " which was lost by the sin 
of Adam, it must, in this sense, be recovered for them on 
earth. Herein, alone, is it that the comparison of St. 
Paul holds good, when he says, "As by the offence of one, 
judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so 
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all 
men to justification of life." — Romans, v. 18, 19; or as 
he more perspicuously expresses it, in those other words 
of his : " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall 
all be made alive." — 1 Corinthians, xv. 22. 

The place then, wherein men are to enjoy eternal life, 
which Jesus hath obtained for them, can be none other 
than here, where, having first obtained it, they lost it ; 
and where, last of all, they recover it again, through him. 
For if, as in Adam all die, that is, if in Adam all have 
forfeited paradise and eternal life on earth, and returned 
to dust again ; even so in Christ shall all be made alive, 
that is, all shall be made alive on earth, in the flesh. If 
this, we say, be not the meaning of the words, then 
words fail to convey any adequate idea of the text. The 
Psalmist not only corroborates, but he strengthens this 
view of the subject. "For there," says he, that is on 
Mount Zion, (the place which is made to represent Jeru- 
salem upon earth,) "the Lord commanded the blessing, 



2J2 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

even life forever more." — Psalm, cxxxiii. 3. John also, 
in the Revelations, does the same thing: "To him that 
overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is 
in the midst of the paradise of God." — Revelations, ii. 7. 
This was the tree of Adam's eternal life, which, from the 
wording of the fable, was evidently intended to be on 
earth. But, for our further confirmation, the same Apostle 
says again, " I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jeru- 
salem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as 
a bride adorned for her husband." — Revelations, xxi. 2. 
And again, to the same effect, he remarks, "And he car- 
ried me away in the Spirit, to a great and high mountain, 
and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, 
descending out of heaven from God," — Rev. xxi. 10; 
implying that the new Jerusalem, the paradise of God, at 
the coming again of Jesus, should come down to God's 
people from heaven ; and not that they should go up to it 
from earth. This differs nothing from that, which the 
two men in white clothing, — that is, the two angels, said 
to the Apostles who were looking upon Jesus ascending: 
" This same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, 
shall so come, as you have seen him go into heaven." — 
Acts, i. 11. This is equivalent to saying that Jesus will 
come down to govern them under his Father, here, eter- 
nally; and not take them up, to govern them in Heaven 
above. It answers also to the restoration of the kingdom 
of God instituted under Moses, which was a political 
crovernment of the Jews on earth. 

Now — referring again to the first part of the argument — 
if Adam and Eve had not sinned, and had lived on the 
earth, together with their posterity, forever, it is manifest 
that the earth could not have contained the aggregate. If 
immortals could have generated as mankind do now, the 



SALVATION NOT SPIRITUAL. 213 

earth, in a short space of time, would not have sufficed for 
them to live in. 

Again, the joys of that "life eternal," in Scripture lan- 
guage, are all comprehended under the name of Salvation. 
Now, to be saved, is to be secured, either respectively 
against special evils, or absolutely against all evils — com- 
prehending want, sickness, and even death itself. If, 
therefore, man was created an immortal being, not subject 
to corruption, and having nothing in him that tends to 
dissolution, and if he fell from that state of happiness by 
the sin of Adam, it follows that to be saved from sin, in 
his case, is to be saved from all the evils and calamities 
that sin brought upon him. So that the meaning of the 
Scriptural term, "remission of sins," is one and the same 
with salvation from death and misery. This is manifest 
from the words of Jesus, when he cured a man sick of the 
palsy, He began by saying, "Son, be of good cheer, thy 
sins be forgiven thee" (Matthew, ix. 2;) and, being 
murmured at by the Scribes for this act, asked them, 
" Whether is it easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, 
or to say, Arise and walk?" (Matthew, ix. 5.) Of course, 
he meant that the two things were synonymous — that 
"Thy sins be forgiven thee," and "Arise and walk," 
would produce the same effect. Reason, too, teaches us 
that since death and misery are, according to Bible teach- 
ing, the punishments of sin, redemption from sin must also 
be redemption from death and misery ; that is to say, abso- 
lute salvation. 

But salvation may also be a special remedy against 
particular evils — and what are they ? Examples are the 
best means of teaching us. " And he said, the Lord is my 
rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer ; the God of my 
rock ; in Him will I trust ; He is my shield and the 



214 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

horn of my salvation, my high tower and my refuge, my 
Saviour — thou savest me from violence. I will call on 
the Lord, who is worthy to be praised : so shall I be saved 
from mine enemies." (2 Samuel, xxii. 2, 3, 4.) "And 
the Lord gave Israel a Saviour, so that they went out from 
under the hand of the Syrians ; and the children of Israel 
dwelt in their tents, as beforetime." (2 Kings, xiii. 5.) 
Now, these quotations, and many others of a similar 
character, which could be selected, most unquestionably 
have reference to the realization of an earthly salvation, 
which is described and marked out precisely at length in 
the following passages from the book of Isaiah : " Look 
upon Zion, the city of our solemnities ; thine eyes shall 
see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall 
not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall 
ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be 
broken. But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a 
place of broad rivers and streams ; wherein shall go no 
galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. 
For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our law-giver, the 
Lord is our King ; he will save us. Thy tacklings are 
loosed ; they could not well strengthen their mast ; they 
could not spread the sail ; then is the prey of a great spoil 
divided ; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitants 
shall not say, I am sick ; the people that dwell therein 
shall be forgiven their iniquity." (Isaiah, xxxiii. 20, 24.) 
In these words we have the place from whence salvation 
is to proceed, namely, " Jerusalem," " a quiet habitation ;" 
and the eternity of it, "a tabernacle that shall not be 
taken down," &c. Is it not, therefore, evident that the 
Scriptures foretell that salvation shall be on this earth? 
If this is not sufficiently emphatic, examine the following 
texts from the same prophet. " And they (that is, the 



SALVATION NOT SPIRITUAL. 215 

Gentiles who had any Jew in bondage) shall bring all 
your brethren, for an offering unto the Lord out of all 
nations, upon horses and in chariots, and in litters, and 
upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain 
Jerusalem, saitli the Lord, as the children of Israel bring 
an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord." 
11 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, 
saith the Lord." (Isaiah, lxvi. 20, 21.) Whereby it is 
manifest that the chief seat of God's kingdom, which is 
the place from whence the salvation of the Gentiles was 
to proceed, was Jerusalem. 

But, to pursue this subject still further : The prophet 
Joel, in describing the day of judgment, says that God 
will " shew wonders in Heaven, and in earth, blood, and 
fire, and pillars of smoke ; the sun shall be turned into 
darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and 
terrible day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass 
that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall 
be delivered : for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be 
deliverance." (Joel, ii. 30, 31, 32.) Obediah, in his 
single chapter, says the same thing: "Upon Mount Zion 
shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness ; and the 
house of Jacob shall posess their possessions " (verse 17) — 
that is, the possessions of the heathen. These possessions 
he designates more particularly in the following verses, by 
the title of " the Mount of Esau," " the Land of the Phil- 
istines," " the fields of Ephraim," " of Samaria," "Gilead," 
and " the cities of the South ;" and then he concludes with 
these words, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's." All 
these places are said to be for salvation, and for the king- 
dom of God, after the day of judgment upon earth. 

By examining the term "world," as made use of in the 
Bible, this will become still more apparent. There we 



216 ONE KELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

have it referred to in three different senses, as the old 
world, the present world, and the world to come. Of the 
first, St. Peter speaks in the following language, " And 
spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth per- 
son, a preacher of righteousness, bringing the flood upon 
the world of the ungodly." — 2 Peter, ii. 5 — which evi- 
dently means the world that existed from Adam, to what 
is called x the Deluge. Of the present world, Jesus him- 
self thus speaks, "My kingdom is not of this world; if 
my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants 
fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews." — John, 
xviii. 36. — Jesus means the world then actually around 
him, which was then, and which is now, inhabited by the 
human race, as contradistinguished from the world over 
which he expected to rule at his second coming. And of 
this world to come to which Christ alluded, the Apostle 
Peter again enlightens us: "Nevertheless we, according 
to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth 
wherein dwelleth righteousness." — 2 Peter, iii. 13. This 
is also that world, whereunto Christ coming down from 
heaven in the clouds, with great power and glory, shall 
send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from 
the four winds, and from the uttermost parts of the earth, 
and thenceforth reign over them under his Father, ever- 
lastingly. 

The only article of faith, which the Scriptures make 
simply necessary to salvation, is this, that Jesus is "The 
Christ." By the name of Christ, at that time, was under- 
stood "The king;" the anointed one; the one whom 
God had before promised, by the prophets of the Old Tes- 
tament, to send into the world, to reign over the Jews, 
and over such nations as should believe in him, under 
himself, eternally ; and to give them that eternal life, 



THE WORLD, PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 217 

which was lost by the sin of Adam, namely, life everlast- 
ing in the flesh upon earth. The aim of all the Evan- 
gelists, who give us such a graphic description of the life 
of Jesus, was to establish that One article of Faith, that 
Jesus is " The Christ." The sum and substance of Mat- 
thew's Gospel is this, that Jesus was of the stock of 
David, and that he was born of a Virgin. These are 
considered perhaps, the strongest marks by which the 
true Christ was to be identified ; but they are not all. 
They are confirmed, we are taught, by the following cor- 
roborative evidence. The Magi came to worship him as 
such, that is as " The King of the Jews." Herod, for 
the same cause, sought to kill him. John the Baptist 
proclaimed him. He declared himself ; and his Apostles 
also preached, that he taught the law, not as a scribe, but 
as a man of authority — that is, as a man in a supreme 
position. He cured diseases by his word only, and did 
many other miracles, which were foretold the Christ 
should do. He was saluted king, when he entered into 
Jerusalem. He forewarned his disciples, and others, to 
beware of any except himself, who should pretend to be 
Christ. He was taken, accused, and put to death, for 
saying he was that king. The cause of his condemna- 
tion, written on the cross, was, "Jesus of Nazareth, The 
King of the Jews." All these, and many other examples 
of a like character, teach, (and teach nothing more nor 
less than this,) that men should believe that "Jesus is the 
Christ." We gather these quotations from the History 
of Jesus, written by Matthew. The other three Evan- 
gelists who wrote of him, with some few discrepancies, 
additions, and subtractions, say pretty much the same 
things. The whole and sole design therefore of the Evan- 
gelists, was to impress and establish this one idea. 



218 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Indeed John makes it the sum total of his history. 
"These things were written," says he, "that ye might 
believe, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God ; and 
that believing ye might have life through his name," — 
John, xx. 31 — that is to say, life everlasting upon earth 
in the flesh. The Apostles, even in the lifetime .of Jesus, 
were sent to preach the kingdom of God: "And he sent 
them to preach the kingdom of God." — Luke, ix. 2. — 
And again, "As ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of 
heaven is at hand."- — Matthew, x. 7. Now what can 
we gather from this, but that he sent them to preach 
that he was " The Messiah," " The Christ," "The King," 
which was to come ? Their preaching, likewise, after his 
death, was the same. This is manifest from an account 
which Luke gives in the Book of Acts, of a riot which 
such preaching occasioned at Thessalonica. "The Jews," 
says he, " which believed not, moved with envy, took 
unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and 
gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, 
and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring 
them out to the people. And when they found them not, 
they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of 
the city, crying, these that have turned the world upside 
down, are come hither also, whom Jason hath received; 
and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar ; saying 
that there is another King, one Jesus." — Acts, xvii. 
5, 6, 7. 

Jesus himself, no doubt, at one period of his life, 
favored this idea. The following suggestion which he 
made to the Jews with reference to himself evidences that 
he did, " Search the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye 
have eternal life; and they are they that testify of me." 
John, v. 39. Of course he could have reference, in these 



CHRIST'S PRETENDED MIRACLES. 219 

words, to no other writings than those of the Old Testa- 
ment, the New Testament not then being in existence. 
Admitting then that the Old Testament Scriptures do 
bear all the marks whereby men might have known Jesus 
when he came among them — such as those to which we 
have before referred, to wit: that he should descend from 
David ; be born at Bethlehem, and of a Virgin ; and that 
he should do great miracles by which it should be known 
that he was come to be a temporal King ; and, The King 
oi the Jews ; — which he never was — still, does this war- 
rant theologians in putting a totally different construction 
on it, by going further and saying that he was not only a 
temporal king, but that he was the King of Kings, and 
Lord of Lords? What authority have they for doing 
this ? We shall presently shew. 

The principal evidence, which Christians have to pro- 
duce in support of the Divinity of Jesus is the working of 
miracles. In order to claim credence for his miracles, 
they are necessarily compelled to admit the validity of 
the miracles of Moses and of the Old Testament gene- 
rally, some of which are said to have been wrought by 
persons who were considered types of Jesus. We will 
examine into the nature of these first, therefore. Now it 
must be admitted that there are some references made in 
the Scriptures themselves, to the power of working won- 
ders, even by men who were represented to be at variance 
with God and His people. In fact, the ability to perform 
such acts is conceded to them. But they are also said to 
have been produced by magic and incantation. 

For example, when we read that after the rod of Moses 
had been cast on the ground, and had become a serpent, 
(Exodus, vii. 2,) the magicians of Egypt did the same by 
their enchantments. Again, after Moses had turned the 



220 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

waters of the Egyptian streams, rivers, ponds, and pools 
of water into blood — Exodus, vii. 22 — the magicians did 
so likewise by their enchantments. And again, when 
Aaron had, by the power of God, brought frogs upon the 
land — Exodus, viii. 6 — the magicians also did so by their 
enchantments, and they " brought up frogs upon the land 
of Egypt." 

Now, enchantment is not, as many think it, a working 
of strange effects by spells and words, but imposture and 
delusion wrought by legerdemain ; and so far is it from 
being supernatural, that the impostors, who practice it, 
resort neither to the study of science nor of nature. All 
they do is to impose upon the ignorance, stupidity, and 
superstition of the most credulous. So that all that mira- 
cle-working consists in is this, that the enchanter has 
made himself master in the art of deception. It is, there- 
fore, not a good or laudable thing to do ; it is bad, wicked, 
and detestable ; and abhorrent to every sensible mind. 

What a reputation for miraculous powers (before the 
science of the course of the stars was discovered) might 
not a man have gained, had he truly foretold, that on a 
certain day or at a certain hour, the Sun would be dark- 
ened ! A juggler, also, by handling the appliances of his 
profession, (if such tricks were not now ordinarily prac- 
tised, ) might gain for himself such renown for ability to 
work miracles, as would suggest that he was aided by the 
devil, at least, if by no higher power. 

But when we take a more sensible view of the matter, 
and look upon the impostures which are wrought by con- 
federacy, there are few things, (however impossible they 
may appear,) that cannot be done or seem to be done. 
And, however, glaring the fraud may be, it still finds 
dupes enough ready to believe in it. Two men conspir- 



SOME MIRACLES EXPLAINED. 221 

ing, one to seem lame, the other to cure him with a 
charm, might deceive many ; but many conspiring — one 
to seem lame, another to cure him, and all the rest to 
bear witness to the cheat — might deceive many men. 

The seeming miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead, 
(if it were ever enacted,) was, no doubt, the result of 
collusion ; so also was the raising to life of the ruler's 
daughter, and of the son of the widow of Nain. We hesi- 
tate not to say the same in regard to all other instances, 
where the gaining of credence in miracle-working has been 
attempted. 

None of the miracles, with which the old histories are 
filled, took place at a period of scientific culture. Scruti- 
nizing observation, which has never once been deceived, 
teaches us that miracles never happen, save in times and 
countries wherein they are believed without examination, 
and before persons whose minds are already prepared to 
believe them. No miracle ever occurred, in the pres- 
ence of men capable of testing its mysterious character. 
Neither common people, nor men of the world, are able to 
apply the test. It requires much precaution and long 
habits of scientific research. In our days, have we not 
seen almost all respectable people made dupes of by the 
grossest frauds and the most puerile illusions ? Transac- 
tions said to be marvellous and attested by the whole 
population of small towns, have — thanks to a severer 
scrutiny — been satisfactorily explained. And, if it can be 
proved that no contemporary so-called miracle will bear 
to be inquired into, is it not probable also, nay, is it not 
more than probable, that the miracles of the past, which 
have all been performed among an ignorant populace, 
would equally present their share of illusion, were it pos- 
sible to criticise them in detail ? 



222 ONE RELIGION: MANY GREEDS. 

It is not, then, in the name of this or that philosophy ; 
but in the name of universal experience, that we banish 
miracles from history. Up to this time the performance 
of a miracle has never been proved. 

In the aptitude of mankind to give too hasty belief to 
pretended miracles, therefore, how very wisely put, is the 
caution in the beginning of the thirteenth chapter, and 
again, at the end of the eighteenth chapter of Deuter- 
onomy — that we take not any for prophets, who teach 
any other religion, than that which God, through his 
messenger, Moses, hath established ; nor any, though he 
teach the same religion, whose prediction we do not see 
come to pass ! 

Jesus taught another religion than that of Moses ; and 
his prediction, that his second coming would be during 
the lifetime of some who heard him so predict, did not 
come to pass. By this it is proved, that the Bible test 
of a reliable worker of miracles is adverse to the preten- 
sions set up in behalf of Jesus. He also failed to estab- 
lish his claim, in relation to having been sent of God to 
be temporal ruler of the Jews, either by miracles or other- 
wise. Unfulfilled also is the idea of Jesus in relation to 
the destruction of the earth by fire, and the formation of 
a new one in its place, wherein he claimed that the 
righteous alone were to dwell, and were to be ruled over 
by him. All of this was to take place, according to 
Jesus' own prediction, before the then generation should 
pass away ; yet new, after eighteen hundred years, it 
remains unaccomplished. 

We add a few remarks in regard to the pretended 
miracles, described by the writers of the New Testament 
as having been worked by Jesus. 



FURTHER EXPLANATIONS. 223 

There is undoubtedly a class of diseases which may 
not be cured by a charm, or by the force of imagination, 
or immediately by soothing influences. 

Of this sort was that of the woman with the issue of 
blood of long standing. Yet there is another class of 
complaints, or conceits, which may be so cured, or at 
least appear for a time to be so. Hence, the account 
given in the Gospels, in many cases, corresponds to 
appearances exhibited at the time. When Jesus dis- 
missed the woman having the issue of blood, with the 
words, "Thy faith hath made thee whole," he could not 
have expressed himself more modestly, and, it may he, 
that he spoke not altogether inappropriately. She may 
in some degree have been benefitted by her faith ; but 
she could not have been instaneously and entirely cured 
of a disorder, like the one in question. Faith, hopeful- 
ness, and buoyancy of spirits have a marked tendency to 
produce beneficial effects, and generally do so in almost 
all descriptions of diseases. But this in a way altogether 
natural, never supernatural or miraculous. The firm 
belief which many persons had in Jesus as a wonder- 
worker, no doubt had more or less influence, for a time at 
least, as is evident from the fact that in his home at 
Nazareth, by reason of the unbelief of the people, it was 
only in a few cases that he had succeeded. — Matthew, 
xiii. 58. It was supposed, at the period in question, that 
there were processes, more or less efficacious, for driving 
diseases away. On this account, the occupation of exor- 
cist or conjurer was a regular profession, like that of phy- 
sician, and it may be fairly assumed that Jesus had, in 
his lifetime, the reputation of possessing the profoundest 
secrets of this art. Many singular incidents were related, 
in connection with his cures, in which the credulity of the 



224 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

people gave full scope for his encouragement, as at this 
day. In Syria, they regard as mad, or possessed by a 
demon, people who are only somewhat eccentric. A 
gentle word in such cases often suffices to drive away the 
demon. And such were, doubtless, the means employed 
by Jesus. At that time, also, the fashionable form of 
complaint among the Jews was, possession of devils, 
which accounts for his popularity as a caster of them out. 
We have seen this morbid condition re-appearing in our 
own days, in connection with the newly arisen belief 
in spirits and devils. Nervous and mental diseases, 
which otherwise would have appeared simply in the form 
of convulsions, periodical craziness, and the like, appeared 
in connection with that superstition as madness, produced 
by demoniacal possession, that could only be removed by 
operating on the delusion. There is every probability 
that, as to the cause of this disease, Jesus shared the ideas 
of his age. Hence, on account of its frequently yielding 
to his denunciation, in the name of God, he considered 
this fact a sign of the Messianic times, though he laid 
the less stress upon the fact as regarded himself and his 
disciples, because he saw the same effect produced by 
others whom, in this respect, he placed without hesitation 
on a par with himself. 

In cases of cure of this kind by the imagination, it 
could not but happen sometimes that, with the excite- 
ment, the imagined relief produced by it also passed 
away, so that the old complaints returned. Jesus himself 
speaks of such relapses, not merely with reference to sick 
persons who had been cured by himself, but generally, so 
that we may be sure that they had happened in his own 
experience, as well as in that of others. As regards the 
re-possession, he explains it as the return of the devil that 



DIFFERENT MIRACLES. 225 

had been driven out, with a fresh accession of strength. 
We infer from this, that he looked upon the cause of 
these complaints as a supernatural one, and his power of 
removing them as by no means absolute. 

Now we have to speak of quite another description of 
miracles, said to have been enacted by Jesus, which 
involves the question, whether God's laws in relation to 
physical nature are invariably the same. The affirma- 
tive is at this day so well established by science and 
every other available test, that to argue the subject is 
frivolous. We therefore deem it impossible, that Jesus 
should ever, by a mere blessing, have enormously in- 
creased existing means of nourishment. It is impossible, 
that he could have changed water into wine. Nor can 
he, in defiance of the law of gravity, have walked upon 
the water without sinking. He cannot have recalled 
really dead men to life. Narratives of this kind have 
their existence in fable only ; never in fact. The gross 
ignorance and the dark superstition of the people, in 
Jesus' time, make it perfectly intelligible that even cures, 
effected by means obviously natural, were considered as 
miracles. 

If Jesus could cure some diseases supernaturally by 
the mere word of command, why not all ? Why resort 
to manipulation, and the applying of spittle and clay to 
the eyes of the blind, and the cleansing with water, 
according to Bible narrative ? Here is evidently a judi- 
cious discrimination between complaints which may be 
affected purely by the imagination, and those in which it 
was deemed necessary to resort to material appliances. 
Natural means were evident, while credit was given (for 
whatever good may have resulted) to supernatural means. 
15 



226 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Again, the most wonderful and startling of all the mira- 
cles said to have been performed by Jesus, was that called 
the raising of Lazarus. If this ever had the appearance of 
being performed, it is certain that Lazarus was not dead ; 
and the presumption is, that Jesus knew it. This is to be 
inferred from the fact that he, himself, intimated to his dis- 
ciples that Lazarus was only asleep. Let any candid reader 
examine the following narrative with a critical eye, and see 
if something of this kind of collusion cannot be detected in 
it: "Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, 
behold he whom thou lovest is sick. When Jesus heard 
that he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the 
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified 
thereby. These things said he ; and after that he saith 
unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth ; but I go that I 
may awake him out of sleep. Then said his disciples, 
Lord, if he sleep he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake 
of his death ; but they thought that he had spoken of 
taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, 
Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I 
was not there, to the intent ye may believe ; nevertheless 
let us go unto him. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto 
thee, that if thou wouldst believe thou shouldst see the 
glory of God ? Then they took away the stone from the 
place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his 
eyes and said, Father I thank thee that thou hast heard 
me. And I knew that thou nearest me always ; but 
because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they 
may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus 
had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come 
forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand 
and foot, with grave clothes ; and his face was bound about 
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him and let 



JEWISH TESTS OF THE MESSIAHSHIP. 227 

him go. Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, 
and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on 
him." 

According to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, it was 
a national peculiarity of the Jews to desire signs from a 
man in whose doctrine they were asked to believe. Moses 
was supposed to have spoken to the people, before the 
suppression of the rebellious adherents of Korah. — Num- 
bers, xvi. 28, — " Hereby ye shall know that the Lord 
hath sent me to do all these works ; for I have not done 
them of mine own mind." "The Jews," St. Paul 
remarks, "require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wis- 
dom." — 1 Corinthians, 22. 

As the national legend of the Hebrews had attributed 
to Moses, one of the most eminent prophets, a series of 
such miracles as might then be read in the books held 
sacred by them, it was natural that miracles should, in 
like manner, be expected of every one who claimed to be 
a prophet or the Messiah, and that a Teacher should not 
be held in full estimation by the people if he were without 
this proof of having received credentials from above. 
Accordingly, it is quite certain, as we read in the Gospels, 
that on more than one occasion, when Jesus put forward 
pretensions which none but a Prophet could put forward, 
he was met by the demand for an accrediting sign. 
"Master," said they, as we read in the Gospel of Mat- 
thew, " we would see a sign from thee." On two other 
occasions, likewise, they accosted him with the expres- 
sions of a wish of this kind, and for what they define 
more accurately as a sign from heaven, — Matthew, xvi. 1 ; 
Mark, viii. 2. But Jesus refused to comply with their 
demands. Up. to this time, his pretension went no further 
than that he was a teacher sent from God. He relied 



228 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

upon the excellence of the doctrine that he taught, as an 
evidence that he was sent ; and this he declared. He, 
therefore, returned a summary answer to the demand for 
a sign. No sign whatever, said he, shall be given to 
this evil and adulterous generation. By the term "gen- 
eration," we understand him to mean his contemporaries 
generally, whose want of susceptibility and whose per- 
versity in the case of the Pharisees and Scribes, came 
under his observation in a particularly glaring manner. 
It was not until later, and probably after he had con- 
ceived the idea that he was the promised Messiah, that 
he saw the policy of yielding — as he did — to the impor- 
tunities for a sign. The answer that Jesus gave to the 
messengers of the Baptist, who were sent to him in con- 
sequence of a series of miracles which he was then per- 
forming, and. to which he appealed as a proof of his Mes- 
sianic commission, appears to stand in direct contradiction 
to his refusal to perform signs and wonders. When John 
the Baptist sent to ask Jesus whether he was the promised 
Messiah, or whether they were to look for another, John 
must have been in doubt, whether those miracles — similar 
ones to which had been performed by the Prophets in the 
Old Testament — did also, on this occasion, announce only 
a Prophet, or, lastly, and once for all, the Messiah. The 
sequel has shown that Jesus was not the expected Mes- 
siah, inasmuch as he never occupied the throne of David. 
But, however Jesus might disclaim the performance of 
material miracles, it was supposed, according to the mode 
of thought of the period, and of his contemporaries, that 
miracles he must perform whether he would or not. As 
soon as he was considered a Prophet — Luke, vii. 16 — and 
we cannot doubt that he might attain this character as 
well as the Baptist, even without the performance of 



JEWISH TESTS OF THE MESSIAHSHIP. 229 

miracles — miraculous powers were attributed to him, they 
came of course into operation. From that time, wherever 
he showed himself, sufferers regularly crowded upon him 
in order only to touch his garments, because they expected 
to be cured by doing so. — Matthew, xiv. 36 ; Mark, iii. 
10, vi. 56; Luke, vi. 19. And it would have been strange 
indeed, if there had been no cases among all these, in 
which the force of excited imagination, or impressions 
half spiritual and half sensuous, produced either actual 
removal or temporary mitigation of disease. Such effect 
was ascribed to the miraculous powers of Jesus. 

But, besides, and beyond these signs as a test of the 
truth of the mission of a prophet, there were other means 
by which the Jews examined his claims, and particularly 
the claims of one aspiring to the Messiahship. Their 
conceptions of the Messiah, though different in different 
persons, agreed nevertheless in this — that the Messiah, 
after the opening of his kingdom, would continue to reign 
over his followers for a period far exceeding the natural 
duration of human life. According to Luke, his dominion 
was, absolutely, to have no end : " He shall be great, and 
shall be called the Son of the Highest : and the Lord 
God shall give unto him the throne of his father David : 
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever ; and 
of his kingdom there shall be no end." — Luke, i. 32, 33. 

This idea we find borrowed from the prophets David, 
Isaiah, Daniel, and others, where the duration of his 
reign is said to be a thousand years, as in Revelations, 
xx. 4. If he died at last, this death was to happen to 
all life on earth, for the purpose of bringing about a 
change into the super-terrestrial state. But in no case 
could he die, until he had finished his work and executed 
all that was expected of him. In no case could he be 



230 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

cut off, as a condemned criminal, submitting to superior 
power. 

Now both these contingencies had occurred to Jesus. 
His ministry, as the pretended Messiah, was broken off; 
and it was broken off by the violence practised against 
him by the Jews, even before it had fully begun. The 
case, then, immediately after the decease of Jesus, 
between the Jews of the ancient faith, and his adherents, 
stood as follows. The former said, " Your Jesus cannot 
have been the Messiah, because the Messiah is to continue 
forever. He was not to die until after a long period of 
dominion as the Messiah, at the same time enjoying 
earthly life as all others. But your Jesus has died before 
the time by a disgraceful death, without having done any- 
thing expected of the Messiah." On the other hand, the 
latter said, "As Jesus, our Messiah, died so early, the 
prophecies, which promise to the Messiah that he shall 
endure forever, can only have meant that his death 
should not subject his soul to a continuance in hell, nor 
his body to corruption." — Psalm, xvi. 10; Acts, ii. 21; 
but that he should migrate into a higher life with God, 
from whence he will return to earth at his own time, in 
order to bring to a conclusion his work that was inter- 
rupted through your guilt." Now which interpretation is 
the most credible and probable ? Let us look further. 

All the prophecies, that can, with any consistency, be 
construed to have any relation to the office of Jesus' Mes- 
siahship, point to his sitting on the throne of David in 
the capacity of an earthly king, and thence redeeming 
the Jews from personal, and, perhaps, incidentally from 
some degree of spiritual and mental bondage. — Isaiah, ix. 
6,7. 



THE THRONE OF DAVID. 231 

That the Jews, at the time of Jehus' ministry among 
them, so understood it, will be seen by the following cita- 
tion : " There came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, 
saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews ? for 
we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship 
him. * * * And when he — Herod — had gathered all 
the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he 
demanded of them where Christ should be born. And 
they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is 
written by the prophet : And thou Bethlehem, in the land 
of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda ; for 
out of thee shall come a Governor that shall rule my 
people Israel." — Matthew, ii. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. This is fur- 
ther evinced by the inscription which Pilate caused to be 
put on the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, to wit : 
" Jesus of Nazareth, The King of the Jews," and to which 
the Jews objected, saying, " Write not The King of the 
Jews, but that he said, I am King of the Jews." — John, 
xix. 21. He was accused then by the Jews, of claiming 
to be their king ; and it is evident that the accusation 
was a just one. 

Indeed, even after his death, it was still the belief of 
the Apostles that he was a Prince and a Saviour, and that 
he was raised up to sit on the throne of David. In the 
first sermon that Peter preached (which was on the day 
of Pentecost,) he addressed himself thus to the assembled 
multitudes that surrounded him : " Men and brethren let 
me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he 
is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto 
this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that 
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of 
his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ 
to sit on his throne," &l\ — Acts, ii. 20. And when this 



232 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

same Apostle, and some others of his brethren had been 
arrested for preaching, in his name, after the alleged resur- 
rection and ascension of Jesus, Peter in his defence 
remarked, "Him hath God exalted with his right hand 
to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to 
Israel, and forgiveness of sins." — Acts, v. 31. 

This proves that they still adhered to the idea that his 
mission was to save the Israelites from bondage, through 
the medium of his being their Prince ; and from their 
sins, by preaching repentance to them. But, was the son 
of Mary, the wife of Joseph, who was called Christ, sent 
to sit upon the throne of David ? 

This was the question that was fairly presented to the 
Jews, both by Jesus and his disciples before his death, 
and by his Apostles after his death ; and it is quite cer- 
tain that it took a political phase, and was canvassed, on 
the side of the Apostles, with equal skill and ardor, as 
are such questions now. The point at issue was, belief 
or non-belief, as to whether Jesus as the appointed of 
God, was to occupy the throne of David. Human nature 
and political intriguing having the same sway over men's 
minds then as at present, it is not improbable that all 
things, which were promised to those that believed, were 
so promised in order to swell up a majority, so that Jesus 
might be declared a King by acclamation, and the leaders 
in that doctrine be thus enabled to divide the spoils. By 
the flatteries of his immediate followers, and of those who 
espoused his cause, he was made to believe without doubt 
that he was the person selected by God to serve in the 
capacity here indicated ; and hence, in view of his princely 
honors and the high source of his appointment, he allowed 
others to call him, and called himself, " Christ," " Lord," 



JESUS' PROGRESSIVE IDEAS. 233 

and "the Son of God," as was the manner of the Jews, 
in relation to persons who were held in high estimation. 

This was his attitude, and these were his claims, when 
the question was being agitated, by the people, as to his 
title to the Jewish throne. They were instilled and fos- 
tered within him by the fanaticism of his followers, who 
repeatedly proclaimed with shouts and acclamations, that 
he was the promised Messiah — The King whom the Jews 
expected to reign over them. — Mark, xi. 9. We read in 
St. Matthew's Gospel that the multitudes that went 
before and that followed, cried, saying, " Hosanna to the 
Son of David, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of 
the Lord, Hosanna in the High est." And again, in St. 
John, " that when he perceived that they would come, 
and take him by force, and make him a King, he 
departed again into a mountain himself alone." This he 
did, probably, because, by his far-sightedness, he saw that 
the time had not yet come for him to assert his right to 
the position. There being, at that moment, no general 
movement of the populace to support him in, his claim. 

When Jesus had completely given up his association 
with Judaism he was filled with revolutionary ardor. 
The innocent aphorisms of the first part of his prophetic 
career, in part borrowed from the Jewish rabbis anterior 
to him, and the beautiful moral precepts of his second 
period, are exchanged for a decided policy. The Messiah 
had come ; and he was the Messiah. The Kingdom of 
God was about to be revealed ; and it was he who would 
reveal it. It was by crises and commotions that it was 
to be established. " From the days of John the Bap- 
tist," saith he, "until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suf- 
fereth violence, and the violent take it by force ;" (Mat- 
thew, xi. 12 ;) and again, "The law and the prophets 



234 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

were until John ; since that time the Kingdom of God 
is preached, and every man presseth into it." — John, 
xvi. 16. 

He had previously contented himself with quietly 
teaching the doctrines of purity and truth. Now he pre- 
sented a different attitude before the world. He was 
above, and beyond, a mere simple teacher of morality. 
He was a prophet, and more than a prophet, and to be 
obeyed. A kingdom was to be established by him. 

In his paroxysm of heroic will, he believed himself all 
powerful. If the earth would not submit to this supreme 
transformation, it must be broken up, purified by fire, 
and by the breath of God. A new heaven and a new 
earth would be created, and instead of men it would be 
peopled with the angels of God. 

A radical revolution, embracing even na.ture itself, was 
now the fundamental idea of Jesus. . But much darkness 
mixed itself with even his most correct views. Some- 
times strange temptations crossed his mind. In the 
desert of Judea, Satan had offered him the kingdoms of 
the earth. Not knowing the power of the Roman 
Empire, he might, with the enthusiasm there was in the 
heart of Judea, which ended soon after in so terrible an 
outbreak, hope to establish a kingdom by the number 
and the daring of his partisans. Many times, perhaps, 
the supreme question, presented itself — will the kingdom 
of God be realized by force or gentleness, by revolt or by 
patience? Much vagueness no doubt tinged his ideas. 
Our principles of positive science are offended by certain 
of the dreams contained in the programme of Jesus. 

There was a contradiction between belief in the ap- 
proaching end of the world, and the general moral system 
which he advocated in prospect of a permanent state of 



HE BECOMES IMPERIOUS. 235 

humanity. He prepared bis disciples for treating the 
civil powers with contempt by not deigning to make any 
defence when brought before them. He wished to anni- 
hilate riches and power ; and it was his dream to effect a 
great social revolution, in which rank would be over- 
turned, and where all authority in this world would be 
humiliated except his own, he fancying himself destined 
to have supreme rule. 

He gradually became more and more imperious. At 
about thirty years of age, he made the proclamation of 
his Messiahship, and the affirmation of the coming catas- 
trophe in which he was to figure as judge, clothed with 
the full powers which had been delegated to him by the 
Ancient of days. "The Father," said he, "judgeth no 
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," — 
John, v. 22 ; evidently imagining that he, to whom the 
title of the Son was given, would be appointed to judge 
his fellow-creatures. His family were strongly opposed 
to him, and plainly refused to believe in his mission or 
pretensions. The Nazarenes, much more violent, wished, 
it is said, to kill him by throwing him from a steep rock: 
"And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these 
things were filled with wrath, and rose up, and thrust 
him out of the city and lead him unto the brow of the 
hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast 
him down headlong." — Luke, iv. 28, 29. 

If Jesus conceived that he was the Messiah, and 
referred the prophecy in Daniel to the Messiah, and 
expected in accordance with it, to come with the clouds 
of heaven in his own person, as proclaimed by him, he 
not only appears to us in the light of a fanatic, but we 
see also an unallowable self-exaltation in a man's (and it 
is only of a human being that we are everywhere speak- 



236 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

ing) so putting himself above every one else, as to con- 
trast himself with them as their future judge. And, in 
doing so, Jesus must have completely forgotten how be 
had on one occasion disclaimed the epithet of good, as one 
belonging to God alone. 

The title of "Son of David" was the first which he 
accepted, probably without being concerned in the inno- 
cent frauds by which it was sought to secure it to him. 
The universal belief was, that the Messiah would be son 
of David, and like him would be born at Bethlehem. 
The first idea of Jesus was perhaps not precisely this. 
But public opinion on this point made him do violence to 
himself. The immediate consequence of the proposition, 
"Jesus is the Messiah," was tbis other proposition, "Jesus 
is the son of David." He allowed a title to be given 
him, without which he could not hope for success. In 
this, as in many other circumstances of his life, Jesus 
yielded to the ideas which were current in his time, 
although they were not precisely his own. He associated 
with his doctrine of the "kingdom of God" all that could 
warm the heart and the imagination. It was thus that 
we have seen him adopt the baptism of John, although 
it could not have been of much importance to him. "The 
woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, 
which is called Christ, when he is come, he will tell us 
all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee 
am he." — John, iv. 25, 26. It is evident that Jesus 
made no such announcement in relation to himself during 
the early part of his ministry. The remark of the woman, 
and his reply, is proof that no such idea was then current. 
And this is corroborated by John while imprisoned, 
sending to inquire of Jesus whether he laid claim to 
being the expected Messiah. Now if the character and 



OBJECT OF CHRIST AND APOSTLES. 237 

mission of Jesus was what the theologians claim, it is 
incomprehensible why his course and conduct in each and 
every part, and as a whole, should not Jiave been more in 
conformity with our conception of a fair representation of 
normal man and a perfect God than was the case. Jesus 
was probably led to imagine that he was the expected 
Messiah by the homage done to him by his admirers, and 
those who deceived themselves about him. This idea, 
however, he abandoned as far as he himself was con- 
cerned ; and he must have felt, (and felt most bitterly at 
the last,) that he had been deceiving himself as to his 
true position, otherwise he would not have exclaimed as 
he did, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
Mark, xv. 34. 

This one acknowledgment, of his subordination to God, 
made so exactly after the manner of an ordinary man 
disappointed in his aim and unexpectedly brought to the 
last struggle of life, should set at rest, as we conceive, 
the assumption that he was either the predicted Messiah 
or co-equal with God. When he answered the woman as 
he did, it is probable that he thought himself to be what 
he said he was. He thought, likewise, no doubt, that 
by gaining the confidence and credence of the people in 
him as the Christ, it would favor his ascension to the 
throne, as the King of the Jews. The great desideratum 
with him and with his Apostles was, to induce the people 
to believe that the person, then among them, was the 
Christ, was the identical person to whom the Prophets 
pointed as destined to rule as King over the Jews per- 
petually, upon earth. A majority of such believers being 
obtained, the road was plain and the way sure, to the 
aggrandizement of both him and themselves. And so 
confident were they in their expectations of success, that 



238 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

politician-like, they began to squabble and to importune 
him, in advance, for the honors and spoils that would fall 
to the lot of each^ when he should have attained to the 
throne. That this squabbling for place had relation to 
temporal affairs — matters pertaining to this life — and not 
• to those beyond the grave, is shown by the Gospel itself. 
St. Luke says, (ix. 46,) "Then there arose a reasoning 
among them, which of them should be greatest;" and 
again, xxii. 24 to 29, — And there was also a strife 
among them which of them should be accounted the 
greatest. And he said unto them, The kings of the Gen- 
tiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise 
authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall 
not be so ; but he that is greatest among you, let him be 
as the younger ; and he that is chief, as he that doth 
Sfi save. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or 
he that serveth ? is not he that sitteth at meat ? but I 
am among you as he that serveth ? Ye are they which 
have continued with me in my temptations. And I 
appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed 
unto me. That ye may eat and drink at my table, in 
my kingdom, and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes 
of Israel." Now, no one will deny, we presume, that 
this has reference to temporal affairs, and that it was so 
understood by those to whom it was spoken. If so, it 
evidently accounts for the Apostles being stimulated to 
use every available device for the purpose of making and 
retaining believers ; and it is corroborated by the kind of 
teaching or belief which Jesus was so solicitous to incul- 
cate in relation to himself, as shown by reference also 
to Gospel authority. St. Matthew, xxii. 41, 42, says: 
" While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus 
asked them, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son 



OBJECT OF CHRIST AND APOSTLES. 239 

is he? They say unto him, The son of David." Again, 
"And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the 
temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of 
David." — Mark, xii. 35. His motive in asking these 
questions is unmistakable, and shews how anxious he was 
to have his lineal descent traced from the house of David, 
and consequently his title to the throne of the Jews estab- 
lished, and believed in, and publicly proclaimed. Hence 
his declaration: "Whosoever therefore shall confess me 
before men, him will I confess also before my Father 
which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before 
men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in 
heaven." — Matthew, x. 32, 33. 

The importance of confession before men is manifest ; 
and especially in such a case as this, where Jesus was to 
be proclaimed as King. It is not at all an uncommon 

thing for men of influence to declare, and commit thena- 
rs ' 

selves in favor of a certain political tenet, or on the side 
of an individual who is an aspirant for a high position in 
the government of a country ; and it is often the case, 
that the public announcement of such a course gives eclat 
and impetus to the cause or party interest which is being 
pushed forward. A large portion in all communities, who 
do not take the trouble to think for themselves, is con- 
tinually, heedlessly, and thoughtlessly following the lead 
of prominent men. 

Viewed in this light, the public avowal of Jesus had a 
two-fold advantage, first, of binding the new disciples 
more firmly to the new faith, and secondly, of increasing 
the popularity of the pretender. But when viewed in 
relation to religious matters, one cannot avoid calling to 
mind that precept which condemns such a course, and 
which teaches us to be more modest and retiring. "He 



240 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

that exalte tb himself shall be abased ; but he that hum- 
bleth himself shall be exalted." This will occur to us 
more strongly, when Jesus' avowal is viewed in relation to 
the ostentation of the Pharisees, who sounded a trumpet 
before them in the synagogues and in the streets, that 
they might be seen and heard of men, as Jesus himself 
had noted and condemned. 

All conceivable good was promised for simply believing 
in Jesus' divine rig;ht to the throne of his ancestors, and 
the public committal to such espousal of Jesus' preten- 
sions, by baptism. The Apostles, like the politicians of 
our day, had learned from experience, that one party is 
constantly winning back some portion of the converts 
which the other had made ; hence, the policy of sealing 
the new faith with a public pledge and formal act. 

This temporal or worldly interest, it is evident, was the 
great and only object that led and stimulated Jesus, and 
his disciples, to encourage such zeal in the belief and 
pledge in question. In all such efforts to propagate the 
interests of their Master, the conduct of the Apostles, was 
true to the instincts of the most adroit politicians — fully 
up to the best party manoeuvring of our day — and lacks 
nothing in the adaptation of the means to the ends, pro- 
vided double-dealing and false pretenses are conceded to 
be admissible in such matters. But, when men teach 
that all, who do not believe that Jesus was the person to 
whom the prophets had reference in their predictions, 
when they assigned a king to the Jews, will be con- 
demned by God to everlasting torment, they teach what 
is opposed to every rational and just view that can be 
taken on the subject ; and, as it has never been pro- 
pounded to nor heard of by one in a thousand of the men 
born into the world, it is impossible that anything, which 



PRIESTHOOD NATURALLY INCENSED. 241 

places God so directly at variance with even man's sense 
of justice, can be true. 

When Jesus undertook to teach natural religion, which 
is love to God and good will towards men manifested by 
good works, he struck at the root and influence of the 
whole system of the Jewish religion and priesthood. In 
speaking of God as the Father of all mankind, he incurred 
their displeasure, and raised their ire beyond measure ; 
because they claimed that they alone were the children of 
God. When he denounced their ceremonials, their sacri- 
fices, their pride, and their self-righteousness, he brought 
upon himself a storm of persecution and abuse which, at 
last, instigated them to murder him. That he disap- 
proved of, and highly condemned their whole ceremonial 
law and teaching, as works of supererogation and hypo- 
crisy, the following denunciations against them, proves : 
" If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy 
and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guilt- 
less " — Matthew, xii. 7 ; " For, laying aside the command- 
ment of God, ye hold the tradition of men as the washing 
of pots and of cups ; and many other such like things ye 
do" — Mark, vii. 8; " Ye reject the commandment of 
God that ye may keep your own tradition " — Matthew, 
vii. 9 ; " And when thou pray est, thou shalt not be as the 
hypocrites are ; for they love to pray standing in the 
synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they 
may be seen of men " — Matthew, vi. 5 ; ''They think 
that they shall be heard for their much speaking " — Mat- 
thew, iii. 7 ; " Your Father knoweth what things ye have 
need of before ye ask Him " — Matthew, vi. 8. 

Now, what could have been better calculated to raise 
against Jesus the fierce indignation of the priests, than 
such an unmitigated condemnation of the very things 
16 



242 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

they most trusted in, and from which they derived their 
great power and influence. The religion which he taught, 
and which harrnonizesso beautifully with the true instincts 
of natural religion, could not but become popular with the 
common people, and to such an extent, that the priesthood 
were alarmed lest they should lose their long enjoyed 
ascendency. The result was, that they could not rest 
satisfied until they had succeeded in having Jesus 
arraigned before the Roman authorities, on the double 
charge of laying claim to be King of the Jews, and blas- 
phemy ; "But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let 
this man go thou art not Caesars friend : whosoever 
maketh himself a king speaketh against Csesar." — John, 
xix. 12; "Then the high priest rent his clothes and 
saith, What need we any further witnesses ? Ye have 
heard the blasphemy." — Mark, xiv. 63, 64. The plan 
adopted by his enemies was to convict him by the testi- 
mony of witnesses ; and, by his own avowal of blas- 
phemy and outrage against the Mosaic religion, to con- 
demn him to death according to their law; and then 
to get their verdict sanctioned by Pilate, the Roman Gov- 
ernor. The fatal sentence which Jesus had really uttered : 
11 1 am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it 
in three days," was cited by two witnesses. To blas- 
pheme the temple of God was, according to the Jewish 
law, to blaspheme God Himself. "And whoso shall 
swear by the altar sweareth by it, and by all things 
thereon. And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth 
by it, and by him that dwelleth therein."— Matthew, xxiii. 
21, 22. Now, these crimes were punished by the law 
with death ; " And thou shalt speak unto the children of 
Israel, saying, Whosoever curseth his God shall bear his 
sin. And he that blasp kerne th the name of the Lord, he 



CHRISTIAN SACRIFICE ABSURD. 243 

shall surely be put to death." — Leviticus, xxiv. 15, 16. 
Accordingly, with one voice, the assembly declared him 
guilty of a capital crime, which decision being confirmed 
by Pilate, his execution took place. His conviction and 
death, under the foregoing circumstances, it is well known, 
were brought about at the instigation and by the hatred 
of the priesthood, in consequence of his espousal and per- 
sistent teaching of the religion of the heart and conscience. 
He, it was, we all know, who was the great champion 
and defender of the simple doctrines of love to God and 
love to man, apart from the sacrifices and ceremonies of 
the Jewish ritual. This, as we have said, greatly incensed 
the priests, because it brought into disrepute their whole 
system. It diminished the influence which they had 
gained through their ceremonies and sacrifices, and made 
them (themselves) unpopular. And, having crucified him 
under these false pretenses, by this act, they caused him 
to become a thousand fold more potent to do the very 
thing they sought to get rid of by procuring his death. 
This admirable trait in human character — the enthusiastic 
espousal of the cause, and the yielding of our sympathies 
on the side of the oppressed and ill-used — so increased 
his popularity, that the views which he took of religion,, 
and his power of discrimination between the good, the 
false, and the true, only served the more to increase the 
popularity of natural religion. At the same time it is to 
be observed that all this occurred in the midst of the Jews, 
whose natural leanings and old habits induced them, in 
course of time, to graft upon the purer doctrines, that 
Jesus taught, a portion of their own rites and ceremonies. 
Among these, sacrifice was pre-eminent. But what was 
worse still, they took, as the basis of their creed and 
worship, the sacrifice of the death of him, to whom such 



244 ONE EELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

a creed and worship were so obnoxious as to merit and 
receive his most unsparing and untiring opposition. And 
in this connection it is important to bear in mind, that 
Jesus himself said not a word to justify this interpretation 
of his death. On the contrary, he said everything that 
he could against the principle of Judaism, on which it all 
rests. His course in this respect is most significant; and 
if candidly considered, from a common sense point of 
view, will, as we conceive, leave this fundamental doc- 
trine of the Christian Church without a rational founda- 
tion to rely on. There is not the faintest allusion in any 
of Jesus' discourses or parables, to his being a sacrifice 
for sin, or to God's requiring any blood to be shed before 
he would forgive sinners. With this indisputable fact 
before us, it is incomprehensible, how they, who now 
teach this doctrine, can justify themselves in allowing this 
Jewish excrescence to be grafted upon the religion origi- 
nally taught by Jesus. We can, to some extent, excuse 
the Jews for carrying with them the doctrines to which 
they had been accustomed for ages, but for others, who 
iook with aversion upon the Jewish sacrifices, even of 
animal life, there can be no excuse. The result is, that a 
leading doctrine of Christian theology has come down to 
us from that very class of men, who hated and stoned 
Jesus and put him to death. This is not only a different 
mode of worship from that which he taught, but it is at 
direct variance with it. 

The Churches teach that Jesus came to abolish the old 
Jewish law and its ceremonies, and especially that part of 
the law which relates to sacrifices ; and that, as a substi- 
tute, therefore, he offered the shedding of his own blood 
upon the cross as an atonement for the sins of the people. 



JESUS REPUDIATES SACRIFICE. 245 

Now, this teaching Jesus himself contradicts. He says 
he came to bear witness to the truth of the moral law, and 
to call sinners to repentance. When he is asked what is 
necessary to be done that we may inherit eternal life, he 
gives full and explicit directions, comprised in what we 
term the commandments. In them we do not find that 
sacrifice of himself, or of anything else, is mentioned. 

When he is asked the question referred to, he does not 
seem to have entertained the idea that he was the pre- 
dicted Messiah. Neither did he imagine that he was to 
be made a substitute for the sacrifices of the Jewish reli- 
gion. Hence, he had nothing whatever to say about sal- 
vation through his atonement. 

The young man, who enquires of Jesus as to the condi- 
tions of entering into eternal life, is told to keep the com- 
mandments. He says he has done so, from his youth up. 
He is then told that, on account of this, he is not far from 
the Kingdom of Heaven. But the reason, assigned for 
his not absolutely attaining thereunto is that he does not 
exercise chanty. He is allowed, therefore, to go away 
with the impression, that if he can only do this he is 
safe ; and yet we are told by the theology of the times, 
that there was something else necessary to which Jesus 
did not make the remotest allusion. 

Now, all this is irreconcilable and at variance with 
God's indisputable justice and goodness. It is impossible 
to conceive that God should punish any one of His crea- 
tures everlastingly, for not believing that, which they 
never had the slightest intimation that it was any part of 
their duty to God or man to believe. We defy any one 
to find one single passage in the whole New Testament, 
wherein Jesus declares it necessary, or wherein he even 
solicits belief in himself as a sacrifice. He calls upon men, 



246 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

we admit, to believe in him, as being the predicted Mes- 
siah and as a true teacher ; but never as a true Saviour of 
the souls of men beyond the grave, by any other means 
than the saving efficacy of the doctrine which he taught. 
In order to shew still more convincingly that Jesus did 
not teach that anything else was necessary for salvation 
than good works, and that no such thing as sacrifices, 
either of slain beasts or of himself, was in any way 
required, we now refer to the occasion when we were 
taught upon what principle we shall all be judged. Jesus 
there imagines himself to be the arbiter, who is to decide 
between men and their God ; and, in so doing, assimilates 
men under two conditions to a promiscuous flock of sheep 
and goats. As a shepherd, says he, divideth his sheep 
from the goats so will he divide the good from the bad ; 
and he will set the sheep — those who represent the good — 
on the right-hand, but the goats — the bad — on his left. 
"Then," he continues, "shall the King say to those on 
his right-hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit 
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
world. For I was a hungered, and ye gave me meat : I 
was a stranger and ye took me in : Naked and ye clothed 
me: I was sick and ye visited me : I was in prison and 
ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, 
saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungered and fed thee? 
or thirsty and gave thee drink ? When saw we thee a 
stranger and took thee in ? Or when saw we thee sick, 
or in prison and came unto thee ? And the King shall 
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me." He then goes 
on to address, in their own proper character, those on His 
left in a correspondingly diverse manner. 



THE OLD TESTAMENT ON SACRIFICE. 247 

What then are the conditions here laid down, as those 
upon which men are to be acquitted or condemned, by 
the most solemn tribunal sitting upon men's actions that 
could be pictured to the imagination ? Are they, whether 
a man believed in this dogma, or that dogma? Whether 
the Jew attended to the strict observance of the sacrifices 
and ceremonies of his religion, or not ? Whether the 
Christian believed in the sacrifice of Christ or not? 
Whether the Mahommedan believed in Mahommed or 
not ? The Hindoo in Juggernaut ? or the Chinese in 
Confucius ? Nothing of the kind. Belief in no man is 
required. Faith in no system is expected. The offering 
of no sacrifice is looked for. What is requisite is simply 
this, doing unto others as we would they should do unto 
us. Love to God, and love to man, manifested by our 
works of charity and goodness, an amplifying, so to say, 
of Jesus' final exhortation to the rich man already men- 
tioned. 

But the Bible furnishes other evidence tending to the 
same conclusions. The Old Testament is so full of the 
condemnation of sacrifices and other superstitions from 
the pens of prophets and others that only a limited num- 
ber of examples can be selected for these pages. What 
said Samuel to King Saul, after the latter had returned 
from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and brought with 
him the best of the sheep and the oxen for sacrificial pur- 
poses, contrary to the instructions which he had received 
to slay all and spare none, neither man nor woman, infant 
nor suckling, ox nor sheep, camel nor ass? "Hath the 
Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as 
in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is 
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
rains," — 1 Samuel, xv. 22. What saith the Psalmist? 



248 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

"Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears 
hast thou opened ; burnt offering and sin-offering hast 
thou not required." — Psalm, xl. 6. And again, "For 
thou desirest not sacrifice ; else would I give it thee : 
thou delightest not in burnt offering/' — Psalm, li. 16. 
What saith the wise man, Solomon? "Keep thy foot 
when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready 
to hear than to offer the sacrifice of fools." — Ecclesiastes, 
v. 1. What say the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, 
and Malachi? "To what purpose is the multitude of 
your sacrifices unto me ? saith the Lord : I am full of the 
burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts : and I 
delight not in the- blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of 
he-goats." — Isaiah, i. 11. "Bring no more vain obla- 
tions : incense is an abomination unto me : the new moons 
and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away 
with: it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting." — Isaiah, 
i. 13. "To what purpose cometh there to me incense 
from Sheba, and the sweet cane from a far country ? your 
burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices 
sweet unto me." — Jeremiah, vi. 20. " They sacrifice flesh 
for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it: but the 
Lord accepteth them not ; now will he remember their 
iniquity, and visit their sins." — Hosea, viii. 13. "The 
Lord will cut off the man that doeth this, the master and 
the scholar, out of the tabernacles of Jacob, and him that 
offereth an offering unto the Lord of hosts." — Malachi, 
ii. 12. 

Lastly, we cite this remarkable passage from Hosea, 
vi. 6. " For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice ; and the 
knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Twice 
did Jesus himself make distinct reference to this injunc- 
tion, and emphasize its plain language by application to 



THE NEW TESTAMENT ON SACRIFICE. 249 

actual circumstances. When the Pharisees reproached 
him for eating with publicans and sinners, he said, " Go 
ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and 
not sacrifice." When they reproached his disciples for 
plucking ears of corn on the Sabbath day, he told them, 
" If ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, 
and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guilt- 
less." 

And Jesus' adoption of Hosea's very language leads us 
on, from the Old Testament to the New. Nor herein is 
there need of further proof, than this adoption affords, 
that Jesus himself attached no importance to sacrifices. 
As to ceremonies this is the estimate that he set upon 
them: "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo- 
crites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, 
and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judg- 
ment, mercy and faith." Nevertheless, one scribe may 
be excepted, he of whom St. Matthew relates that he 
approved Jesus' outspoken doctrine, to the effect that 
true religion consisted in loving God with all the soul, 
and loving man as one's self. This, saith the scribe, is 
more than whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices. And 
when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said 
unto him, " Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." — > 
Mark, xii. 34. Surely one sentence of denunciation, from 
him who is considered the head and front of Christianity, 
ought to suffice for uprooting a system based essentially 
upon the very principle denounced by him. Jesus throws 
contempt upon sacrifice. The Christian churches exalt 
and magnify it as the sine qua non in man's salvation. 
Pay no heed to sacrifices, says Jesus. His churches say. 
practically, let us make Christ himself part and parcel 
of the system that he repudiates ! 



250 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Not having been influenced by personal contact with 
Jesus, St. Paul — apart from his frequent reference to the 
comparative merits of faith and good works — appears 
never to have freed his mind from a certain ideal connec- 
tion between sacrifice and salvation. It is true, he warns 
the Corinthians, that "circumcision is nothing and uncir- 
cumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the command- 
ments of God;" and that he tells the Hebrews, that "it 
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should 
take away sins." But he tells these latter also, that 
"without blood is no remission;" nay, he goes further 
still, and would have the Hebrews believe, that the sacri- 
fice of Christ was needed on Christ's own behalf! So 
astounding is this dogma, that it seems to have staggered 
the Church itself, if one may judge by the eloquent 
silence of the preachers in regard to it. The precise 
expression runs thus, — Hebrews, ix. 12 : — " Neither by 
the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he 
entered in once into the holy place." Furthermore, the 
very phraseology used by Paul, on two occasions, shows 
how this sacrificial notion was rooted in him. He exhorts 
the Romans " to present their bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, and acceptable unto God;" and the Jews to "offer 
the sacrifice of praise to God continually." 

It has been established that Jesus nowhere either 
taught, or gave countenance, in any w r ay to the. worship 
of sacrifices, or to any other kind of worship, except that 
enjoined by natural religion. The same cannot be said, 
however, with regard to his Apostles, after his death. It 
was then, that they began to foist their own habitual 
traditions upon his unincumbered doctrine and thus to 
make worship widely different from that which he had 
advocated. Nor had they any consistency about them. 



THE NEW TESTAMENT ON SACRIFICE. 251 

They blew hot and cold, almost in the same breath. 
Sometimes they preached one thing and sometimes another. 
Take for example, that most inconsistent man of all, Peter, 
termed by one branch of Christians, the infallible founder 
of their Church, and in whose power they put the keys to 
unlock and lock, both heaven and hell. What absurdities 
is he not responsible for. Examine the first sermon which 
he preached, as recorded in the second chapter of the book 
of Acts. 

This was an important occasion. It was an occasion 
when, we are told, men from almost every country on 
the face of the earth were gathered together at Jerusalem ; 
and for the first, and perhaps the last time, heard an ex- 
position of the doctrine of salvation from the mouth of one 
who might be looked upon as qualified to teach it. 

But what does Peter say, in this discourse, about either 
the old sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood, or the sac- 
rifice of Jesus upon the cross? Not one word. He 
speaks of Jesus as a man — a man, mark you — a man 
approved of God ; as having, by the determinate counsel 
of God, been taken and crucified and slain; as having 
been raised from the dead ; as having ascended to heaven ; 
and as having been made both Lord and Christ. But he 
does not utter a single syllable about Jesus having been 
made a sacrifice ; still less does he insist, as the Church 
does, that unless we believe in him as such, we cannot be 
saved. No. Is it to be inferred then, that those persons 
present from every nation under heaven, were to compre- 
hend this new and complicated dogma by intuition, and 
were then to go and preach or tell it to their friends? 
Or are we not rather in a more sensible and natural 
manner, to say, that Peter neither intended, nor did they 
understand anything of the kind ? The latter deduction 



252 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

is assuredly the first one, and is corroborated by Peter's 
continued silence on this point — when he, together with 
the other Apostles, was asked by those who were so much 
concerned: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" 
His reply was : "Repent and be baptized every one of 
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of 
sins" — the baptism signifying a pledge to adhere to the 
teaching of Jesus as the way to righteousness. Again, 
not one word was said about Jesus being crucified as a 
sacrifice for sin. The omission is the more striking from 
the fact that Peter was fresh from communication with 
him. That he subsequently fell back into his old ways 
is on record. His Master was not with him, to keep him 
on the right path. He had been slippery in his dealings 
with Jesus, himself, and is accused, by his associate Paul, 
of having played fast and loose in the matter of circum- 
cision, and in that of eating with the Gentiles. Be this 
as it may, in course of time, they all conspired to make 
Jesus a substitute for those sacrifices with which they 
were so fully imbued, that they could not cease to cling to 
them ; although they found that those of the Jewish order 
were too gross and too much opposed to his own teachings 
to be intermingled with his more refined teaching. When 
we say all, we should probably except St. James. It is 
to be noted that, in the five chapters of his general 
Epistle, he does not once allude to the sacrifice of Jesus, 
and very sparingly to Jesus himself, save when he declares 
that "the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." In one 
memorable verse also, he gives his views of " pure religion 
and undefiled before God and the Father," which consists 
in comforting the afflicted, and leading a pure life — not in 
believing that man is saved only by the death of Christ. 
In another verse, he says concisely, "Thou believest that 



CHRIST DENOUNCES SACRIFICE. 253 

there is one God ; thou doest well," — not two Gods, or 
three. 

The Church argues an analogy between the sacrifice of 
Christ on the cross, under what it calls the new dispensa- 
tion, and animal sacrifice, as practised under the old. 
Now it is shown elsewhere, from the Old Testament, that 
the whole system of sacrifice was rather tolerated than 
approved by God. At the same time, there is not the 
slightest evidence that Jesus and his disciples ever parti- 
cipated in the sacrificial services of the Jewish synagogue, 
though they frequented it, to read, or to teach, or to pray 
therein. This we say is remarkable, and adds another 
proof that Jesus and his Apostles, at all events during his 
lifetime, never countenanced, by any means whatever, 
sacrifices of any kind. Indeed we are told that he took 
a scourge of small cords and drove out the buyers and 
sellers of the things that were used in the Temple, and in 
this way shewed his displeasure at their being brought 
there at all, for any such purpose. 

We submit from the evidence here presented, whether 
any sober-minded man can conscientiously, and without 
misgivings, stand by a system, that God so unsparingly 
denounced, and that Jesus himself never approved. 

With a view of discussing this question, in its every 
phase, we proceed further to confirm what has hitherto 
been said, in a more general way. Epiphanius says of 
the Ebiontes — Heares, xxx. 16 — that in their pretended 
Gospel of Matthew there occurs this expression of Christ : 
u I am come to do away with sacrifices, and if you do not 
cease to sacrifice, the anger of God will not cease from 

you."_ 

This horror of bloody sacrifices the Ebionite's had in 
common with the Essenes. Jesus had a conviction that 



254 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

reconciliation with God was only attainable by purely 
inward means. And hence his displeasure at the gross 
materialism of the sacrificial service. 

Thus did Jesus, not only by words, "have mercy and 
not sacrifice " — Matthew, xii. 7 — but by his example, 
condemn the whole system. And yet how remarkable it 
is that this very system was at length engrafted upon the 
pure natural religion which he advocated ! 

Renan says, one idea, at least, which Jesus brought 
from Jerusalem, and which henceforth appears rooted in 
his mind, was that there was no union possible between 
him and the ancient Jewish religion. The abolition of 
the sacrifices which had caused him so much disgust, the 
suppression of an impious and haughty priesthood, and, 
in a general sense, the abrogation of the law, appeared to 
him absolutely necessary. From this time he appears no 
more as a Jewish reformer, but as a destroyer of Judaism. 
Certain advocates of Messianic ideas had already admitted 
that the Messiah would bring a new law, which should be 
common to all the earth. The Essenes, who were scarcely 
Jews, also appear to have been indifferent to the temple 
and to the Mosaic observances. But these were only iso- 
lated or unavowed instances of boldness. Jesus was the 
first who dared to say that from the time of John, the 
Law was abolished : " The law and the prophets were 
until John: since that time the Kingdom of God is 
preached, and every man presseth into it." — Luke, xvi. 
16. That is to say, independent of any sacrifice. Now, 
the Churches claim that the law of God required for the 
remission of sins, up to the time of the shedding of the 
blood of Christ, the sacrifices enjoined by the ceremonial 
law ; and that this shedding of his blood was accepted by 
God as a crowning and final sacrifice for the remission of 



CHRIST DENOUNCES SACRIFICE. 255 

the sins of all who believe in its efficiency. This is not 
in accordance with Jesus' declaration that the law pre- 
vailed not after John, whose death took place before that 
of Jesus. Consequently, before the shedding of Jesus' 
blood there was no sacrificial law in existence, and there- 
fore it could not have been substituted for, or abrogated by 
the shedding of Jesus' blood as they claimed. 

When Jesus was driven to extremities, he lifted the 
veil entirely, and declared that the Law had no longer 
any force. On this subject he used striking comparisons. 
11 No man putteth a piece of new cloth into an old gar- 
ment, neither do men put new wine into old bottles." — 
Matthew, ix. 16, 17 ; Luke, v. 36. This was really his 
chief characteristic as a teacher. Jesus was no longer a 
Jew. He was in the highest degree revolutionary ; he 
called all men to a worship founded solely on the fact of 
their being children of God. He advocated the religion 
of humanity, established, not upon blood, but upon the 
heart. He proclaimed the rights of man, not the rights 
of the Jew ; the religion of man, not the religion of the 
Jew ; the deliverance of man, not the deliverance of the 
Jew. 

Following out these principles, Jesus despised all reli- 
gion which was not of the heart and conscience. The 
vain practices of the devotees, the exterior strictness 
which trusted to formality for salvation, had in him a 
mortal enemy. The love of God, charity, and mutual 
forgiveness, were his whole law. Nothing could be less 
priestly. The priest, by his office, ever advocates public 
sacrifice, of which he is the appointed minister. We 
should seek in vain in the Gospel for one religious rite 
recommended by Jesus. Those who imagined they could 
win the Kingdom of Heaven by saying to him, '! Rabbi, 



256 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

Rabbi," he rebuked; and proclaimed that his religion 
consisted in doing good. 

Among the various books, or so-called, divine records, 
which are claimed to be supernaturally inspired, there are 
none so obscure as the Bible. The teachings or sayings, 
of Jesus, which are recorded in the Bible, are mostly in 
parables or riddles, whose meaning is so vague and uncer- 
tain that no two persons would be likely to put the same 
construction upon any one of them. Jesus adopted and 
continued this course of teaching to the perplexity and 
astonishment of his disciples, notwithstanding he was 
constantly importuned for his reasons for so doing. In 
which cases, when he answered at all, he said he did so, 
that the prophecies might be fulfilled, or to prevent the 
wise and prudent and the multitudes generally, from 
receiving and understanding the truth — his teachings 
being intended only for his disciples and babes. This is 
inconsistent with the idea of Jesus being either God, 
or the Saviour of men. We cannot conceive of God's 
shaping His course, professedly and especially, to suit the 
vague prophecies of men, that He might the better gain 
credence to His being God. Besides, such a course is 
adverse, by its obscurity, to the Church's version of the 
mission of Jesus, which teaches that he came to give 
light, and thereby everlasting life to all men. He who 
came to be the Saviour of all men, could not, surely, 
studiously, hide the means of salvation from any. The 
preceding remarks have been suggested by the following 
Bible quotations, which seem to us to be entirely at 
variance with the idea, that Jesus came to be the Saviour 
of all men. 

"And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why 
speakest thou unto them in parables." "He answered 



OBSCURITY OF THE BIBLE. 257 

and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know 
the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it 
is not given." " For whosoever hath, to him shall be 
given, and he shall have more abundance : but whosoever 
hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he 
hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables : because 
they seeing, see not ; and hearing, they hear not ; neither 
do they understand." "And in them is fulfilled the pro- 
phecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, 
and shall not understand ; and seeing ye shall see, and 
shall not perceive :" "All these things spake Jesus unto 
the multitude in parables ; and without a parable spake 
he not unto them:" "That it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will utter things 
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the 
world."— Matthew, xiii. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 34, 35. 
"I thank thee, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, 
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes." — Matthew, 
xi. 25. "And when he was alone, they that were about 
him with the twelve asked of him the parable." "And 
he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the 
mystery of the kingdom of God : but unto them that are 
without, all these things are done in parables." " That 
seeing they may see, and not perceive ; and hearing they 
may hear and not understand, lest at any time they should 
be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them." — 
Mark, iv. 10, 11, 12. Such is the Bible version of the 
sayings of Jesus. Their import is totally inconsistent with 
his pretended divine mission. It is not in harmony with 
Peter's remark, that God is no respecter of persons. 
Neither does it accord with the idea that God's creatures 
are all alike the objects of His care and goodness. If 
17 



258 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

Jesus came, as a messenger from God, out of love and 
kindness to mankind, to enable all to obtain eternal life 
through his teaching, then it would seem, according to the 
best human understanding, that all his teachings should 
be such as all men could unmistakably comprehend and 
avail themselves of. God's teaching is heard and heeded 
throughout the universe. To this premeditated obscurity 
in the teachings of Jesus, and of the Bible record gene- 
rally, is due in a great measure ^ the number and variety 
of sects, and the difficulty in coming at anything definite 
on the subject of religion or even theology. 

It is well to notice some of the results of the many con- 
structions that have been put upon the Bible, In illus- 
trating its various readings and their results, we quote 
from sundry authorities mentioned here below. The 
innumerable sects and parties into which Christianity is 
divided — each laying claim to exclusive sanction and 
authority from the Bible — each declaring its own views 
right, and all who differ from it wrong, are each sup- 
ported by Scripture texts of the most plausible aspect. 
"The Trinitarian denounces the Unitarian, and the Uni- 
tarian the Trinitarian ; and both unite in condemning the 
Koman Catholic in some of his peculiar doctrines. The 
Armenian denounces the Calvinist's views, as a system 
consisting of human creatures without liberty, — doctrine 
without sense, — faith without reason, — and God without 
mercy." — Archd. Jortin. The Calvinist on the other 
hand represents Armenianism as "delusive, dangerous, 
and ruinous to immortal souls." — Close s Sermons. And 
the Unitarians declare them both to be "mischievous 
compounds of impiety and idolatry." — Disc, on Priestly. 
Archbishop Magee, on the other hand, denounces the 
Unitarian system as "embracing the most daring impie- 



SECTARIAN RECRIMINATION THE RESULT. 259 

ties that ever disgraced the name of Christianity ; and 
declares that if Unitarianism be well founded, Christianity 
must be an imposition." All sects join in denouncing the 
Methodists "as misled fanatics, alienated from all know- 
ledge of the true God." — Divine Truth. The Church of 
England denounces the whole body of dissenters "as 
accursed, devoted to the devil, and separated from 
Christ," — Canon, v. vii; and the Bishop of London — 
Letters on Dissent. — declares them "to be actuated by 
the devil, with the curse of God resting heavily on them 
all." "The dissenters are not slow in retaliating on the 
Church of England. They say that it is an obstacle to 
the progress of truth and holiness in the land, that it 
destroys more souls than it saves, and that its end is most 
devoutly to be wished for by every lover of God and 
man." — Christian Observer. "The Roman Catholics 
declare their Church to be 'the only true one,' while all 
others join in denouncing them as the 'scarlet whore of 
Babylon,' and a combination of idolatry, blasphemy, and 
devilism.'" — Cuns. Apostasy. "The Romanist retorts 
again, by consigning every sect and description of reli- 
gionists to eternal damnation as heretics and schismatics, 
and their clergy as desecrating thieves and ministers of 
the devil." — Rheims Test. 

It would be an endless task to enumerate the names 
and tenets of the various sects which constitute that 
"chaos of confusion" denominated "the Christian Church," 
all derived from this one book, the Bible, which is declared 
to be an emanation from the Almighty, and a revelation 
of His will to all men. 

From the rapid advancement of civilization, the increase 
of the wealth and the luxuries of life, the clergy of mod- 
em times have found it necessary to make further changes 



260 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

and modifications in the religion of Jesus, so as to accom- 
modate it to their own views and the peculiarities of the 
times. His name is still assumed as the foundation of 
their religion ; hut little attention is paid either to His 
precepts or example. In reality, only the shadow of the 
religion taught by Jesus now remains. 

In view of all this, can the reader hesitate to acknow- 
ledge, that a religion so divided against itself has no 
claim, either to be the true religion, or of divine origin ? 
Can any one imagine for a moment how, amidst such an 
infinite mass of obscure texts? contradictory opinions, and 
glaring discrepancies, all seriously derived from the pages 
of this book, that it is a correct and useful system of reli- 
gion ? 

Truth belongs to all times and to all men. That the 
truth is not evident in Scripture is proved by the innu- 
merable sects into which Christianity has split ; for when 
truth is clear and evident it is impossible to divide people 
into parties or factions. What would be the true religion, 
if there were no sects ? That in which all minds must 
necessarily agree. Sectarianism and error are but syn- 
onyms; for "the word of God" can convey but one 
meaning. We would only ask how many meanings have 
the Scriptures, the assumed word of God, conveyed — 
count the different sects ! 

People in all ages, from the inborn delight which man 
derives from the wonderful and mysterious, have, at all 
times and in all places, been readily persuaded to lend their 
belief to the supernatural and the invisible. Hence, one 
great cause of the enormous superstructure in the Chris- 
tian religion, of prophecies and miracles, of dreams and 
visions, of angels and devils, and other supernatural and 
invisible agents, which have been worked up into the few 



JESUS BIB NOT CLAIM DIVINITY. 261 

simple and truthful precepts, which Jesus, during the 
early part of his public career, enforced with so much zeal 
and eloquence. 

No great events in history have happened without 
having given rise to a cycle of fables. At a certain period 
in his career Jesus began to imagine that he saw in him- 
self traits of character corresponding to the Messiah. 
Perhaps a sagacious observer might have recognized from 
this point the germ of the narratives which were to attri- 
bute to him a supernatural birth, and which arose, it may 
be, from the idea, very prevalent in antiquity, that the 
incomparable man could not be born of the ordinary rela- 
tions of the two sexes, or in order to respond to an imper- 
fectly understood chapter of Isaiah, which was thought to 
foretell that the Messiah should be born of a virgin. At 
times they connected him, from his birth, with celebrated 
men, such as John the Baptist, Herod the Great, Chal- 
dean Astrologers, who, it was said, visited Jerusalem 
about this time, and two aged persons, Simeon and Anna, 
who had left memories of great sanctity. It was, espe- 
cially, after the death of Jesus that such narratives 
became greatly developed. That he never dreamed of 
making himself pass for an incarnation of God, is a 
matter about which there can be no doubt. Such an idea 
was entirely foreign to the Jewish mind ; and there is no 
trace of it in the Gospels. Certain passages, expressly 
exclude this idea, and we only find it indicated in portions 
of the Gospel of John, which cannot be accepted as 
expressing the thoughts of Jesus. Sometimes he even 
seems to take precautions to put down such a doctrine. 
The accusation that he made himself God, or the equal 
of God, is presented, even in the Gospel of John, as a 
calumny of the Jews. In this last Gospel he declares 



262 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

himself to be less than his Father. — John, xiv. 28. 
Elsewhere he avows that the Father has not revealed 
everything to him. He is Son of God, but so are all 
men. He calls God his Father. Every one should feel 
.that God is more than a father. " All who are raised 
again will be sons of God." — Luke, xx. 36. The divine 
son -ship was attributed in the Old Testament to beings 
whom it was by no means pretended were equal with 
God — Genesis, vi. 2 ; Job, i. 6 ; ii. 1 ; xxviii, 7 ; Psalm, 
ii. 7; lxxxii. 6; 2 Samuel, vii. 14. The word "son" 
has the widest meaning in the Semitic language, and in 
that of the New Testament. The transcendent idealism 
of Jesus never permitted him to have a very clear notion 
of his own personality. He is his Father, his Father is 
he. He lives in his disciples : he is everywhere with 
them. — Matthew, xviii. 20 ; xxviii. 20. His disciples 
are one, as he and his Father are one. — John, x. 30 ; 
xvii. 21. In general, the later discourses of John, espe- 
cially chapter xvii., express one side of the psychological 
state of Jesus, though we cannot regard them as true his- 
torical documents. 

No idea of the laws of nature marked the limit of the 
impossible, either in his own mind, or in the minds of his 
hearers. The witnesses of his miracles thanked God " for 
having given such power unto men." — Matthew, ix. 8. 
He pardoned sins. — Matthew, ix. 2. He was superior to 
David, to Abraham, to Solomon, and to the prophets. — 
Matthew, xii. 41, 42; xxii. 43. We do not know in 
what form, nor to what extent these affirmations of him- 
self, were made. Jesus ought not to be judged by the law 
of our petty conventionalities. The admiration of his 
disciples overwhelmed him, and carried him away. It is 
evident that the title of Rabbi, with which he was at first 



HIS OPINION OF HIMSELF. 263 

contented, no longer sufficed him. There was no super- 
natural for him, because there was no nature. Intoxi- 
cated with infinite love, he forgot the heavy chain which 
holds the spirit captive ; he cleared at one bound the 
abyss, which the weakness of the human faculties has 
created between God and man. The belief that certain 
men are incarnations of divine faculties or "powers," was 
wide-spread. For nearly two centuries, the speculative 
minds of Judaism had yielded to the tendency to personify 
the divine attributes, and certain expressions which were 
connected with the Divinity, Thus, " the breath of God," 
which is often referred to in the Old Testament, is consid- 
ered as a separate being, the " Holy Spirit." In the 
same manner the " Wisdom of God," and the "Word of 
God " became distinct personages. This was the germ of 
the process, which has engendered the hypothesis of Chris- 
tianity, and all that dry mythology, consisting of personi- 
fied abstractions, to which resort is had when desiring to 
pluralise the Deity. 

Jesus appears to have remained a stranger to these refine- 
ments of theology, which were soon to fill the world with 
barren disputes. It was John the Evangelist, or his 
school, who afterwards endeavored to prove that Jesus 
was the Word, and who created, in this sense, quite a 
new theology, very different from that of the " kingdom of 
God."— See John, Gospel, i. 1-14 ; 1 Epistle, v. 7. The 
essential character of the Word was that of Creator and 
of Providence. Now, Jesus never pretended to have 
created the world, nor to govern it. His office was to 
judge it, to renovate it. The position of president at the 
final judgment of humanity, was the essential attribute 
which Jesus attached to himself and the character which 
all the first Christians attributed to him. — Acts, x. 42, 



264 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

At all events, the strictness of a studied theology by no 
means existed in such a state of society. All the ideas 
we have just stated, formed in the mind of the disciples a 
theological system so little settled, that the Son of God, 
this species of divine duplicate, is made to act purely as 
man. He is tempted — he is ignorant of many things. He 
corrects himself. Comp. Matthew, x. 5, with xxviii. 19. 
He is cast down, discouraged. He asks his Father to 
spare him trials — He is submissive to God as a son. — 
Matthew, xxvi. 39. " He who is to judge the world does 
not know the day of judgment." — Mark, xiii. 32. He 
takes precautions for his safety. — Matthew, xii. 14-16; 
xiv. 13. Soon after his birth he is concealed to avoid 
powerful men who wish to kill him. — Matthew, ii. 20. 
In exorcisms, the devil cheats him, and does not come out 
at the first command. — -Matthew, xvii. 20 ; Mark, ix. 25. 
In his miracles we are sensible of painful effort, through 
exhaustion, as if something went out of him. — Luke, viii. 
45, 46 ; John, xi. 33, 38. The need Jesus had of obtaining 
credence, and the enthusiasm of his disciples, heaped up 
contradictory notions. To the Messianic believers of the 
millenarian school, and to the enthusiastic readers of the 
books of Daniel and Enoch, he was the Son of man : to 
the Jews holding the ordinary faith, and to the readers of 
Isaiah and Micah, he was the Son of David : to the dis- 
ciples he was the Son of God, or simply the Son. . Others, 
without being blamed by the disciples, took him for John 
the Baptist risen from the dead ; for Elias ; for Jeremiah, 
conformable to the popular belief that the ancient pro- 
phets were about to re-appear, in order to prepare the 
time of the Messiah. — Matthew, xiv. 2 ; xvi. 14 ; xvii. 3. 
Honesty and imposture are words which, in our rigid con- 
sciences, are opposed, as two irreconcilable terms. In 



THE MEANS OF PROOF. 265 

the East, they are connected by numberless subtle links 
and windings. The authors of the Apocryphal books of 
"Daniel" and of "Enoch," for instance, men highly 
exalted, in order to aid their cause, committed, without 
a shadow of scruple, an act which we should term a fraud. 
Two means of proof, miracles and the accomplishment of 
prophecies, could alone, in the opinion of the contempora- 
ries of Jesus, establish a supernatural mission. Jesus, 
and especially his disciples, employed these two processes 
of demonstration, where Jesus had conceived that the 
prophets had written only in reference to him. He recog- 
nized himself in their sacred oracles ; he regarded himself 
as the mirror in which all the prophetic spirit of Israel 
had read the future. In many cases, these comparisons 
were quite superficial, and are scarcely appreciable by us. 
They were most frequently fortuitous, or insignificant cir- 
cumstances, in the life of Jesus, which recalled to the dis- 
ciples certain passages of the Psalms and Prophets, in 
which, in consequence of their constant pre-occupation, 
they saw images in him. — Matthew, i. 23, iv. 6, 14 ; 
xxvi. 31, 54, 56; xxvii. 9, 35. The exegesis of the 
time consisted thus almost entirely in a play upon words, 
and in quotations made in an artificial and arbitrary 
manner. 

As to miracles, they were regarded at this period as the 
indispensable mark of the divine, and as the sign of the 
prophetic vocation. The legends of Elijah and Elisha 
were full of them. It was commonly believed that the 
Messiah would perform many. — John, vii. 34 ; Esdras, 
xiii. 50. In Samaria, a few leagues from where Jesus 
was, a magician, named Simon, acquired an almost divine 
character by his illusions. — Acts, viii. 9. Jesus was 
therefore obliged to choose between these two alterna- 



266 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

tives — either to renounce his mission, or to become a 
miracle- worker. It must be remembered that all anti- 
quity, with the exception of the great scientific schools, 
and their Roman disciples, accepted miracles ; and that 
Jesus not only believed therein, but had not the least idea 
of an order of nature regulated by fixed laws. His know- 
ledge on this point was in no way superior to that of his 
contemporaries. 

The lapse of time has changed that which constituted 
the power upon which the Christian theology is founded, 
into something offensive to our ideas. Criticism expe- 
riences no embarrassment in the presence of this kind of 
historical phenomena. 

With reference to our argument that there is One God, 
and one only, we next invite the reader's attention to 
forty-three selected texts, affirming that fact. 

1. " Thou shalt have no other gods before me." — Exo- 
dus, xx. 3. 

2. " Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest 
know that the Lord is God; there is none else besides 
him." — Deuteronomy, iv. 35. 

3. " Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine 
heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon 
the earth beneath : there is none else." — Deuteronomy, 
iv. 39. 

4. " Hear, Israel : the Lord our God is one Lord." — 
Deuteronomy, vi. 4. 

5. "See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god 
with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal ; 
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." — 
Deuteronomy, xxxii. 39. 

6. " There is none holy as the Lord ; for there is none 
besides thee: neither is there any rock like our God." — 
1 Samuel, ii. 2, 



TEXTS IN FAVOR OF ONE GOD ONLY. 267 

7. "Wherefore thou art great, Lord God: for there 
is none like thee, neither is there any God besides thee, 
according to all that we have heard with our ears." — 2 
Samuel, vii. 22. 

8. "For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a 
rock, save our God" ? — 2 Samuel, xxii. 32. 

9. "And he said, Lord God of Israel, there is no god 
like thee in heaven above ; or on earth beneath, who 
keepest covenant and mercy with thy servants that walk 
before thee with all their heart." — 1 Kings, viii. 23. 

10. "And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said, 
Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cheru- 
bims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the king- 
doms of the earth ; thou hast made heaven and earth." — - 
2 Kings, xix. 15. 

11. "Now therefore, Lord our God, I beseech thee, 
save thou us out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of 
the earth may know that thou art the Lord God, even 
thou only." — 2 Kings, xix. 19. 

12. " Thou, even thou, art Lord alone : thou hast made 
heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the 
earth and all things that are therein, the seas and all that 
is therein ; and thou preservest them all ; and the host of 
heaven worshippeth thee." — Nehemiah, ix. 6. 

13. "That men may know that thou, whose name 
alone is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth." — ■ 
Psalm, lxxxiii. 18. 

14. " For thou art great, and doest wondrous things : 
thou art God alone." — Psalm, lxxxvi. 10. 

15. " Behold, God is my salvation ; I will trust, and 
will not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my strength 
and my song; he also is become my salvation." — Isaiah, 
xii. 2. 



268 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREELS. 

16. "0 Lord of hosts, God of Israel, that dwellest 
between the cherubirns, thou art the God, even thou 
alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth , thou hast made 
heaven and earth.' ' — Isaiah, xxxvii. 16. 

17. "Now, therefore, Lord our God, save us from 
his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know 
that thou art the Lord, even thou only."— Isaiah, xxxvii. 
20. 

18. "I am the Lord ; that is my name : and my glory 
will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven 
images." — Isaiah, xlii. 8. 

19. " For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of 
Israel, thy Saviour ; I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethi- 
opia and Seba for thee." — Isaiah, xliii. 3. 

20. "I, even I, am the Lord; and besides me there is 
no Saviour." — Isaiah, xliii. 2. 

21. " I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no 
God besides me : I girded thee, though thou hast not 
known me." — Isaiah, xlv. 5. 

22. " That they may know from the rising of the sun, 
and from the west, that there is none besides me : I am 
the Lord, and there is none else." — Isaiah, xlv. 6. 

23. "Verily, thou art a God that hidest thyself, God 
of Israel, the Saviour." — Isaiah, xlv. 15. 

24. "For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens, 
God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath 
established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to 
be inhabited : I am the Lord, and there is none else." — 
Isaiah, xlv. 18. 

25. "Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take 
counsel together : who hath declared this from ancient 
time ? who hath told it from that time ? have not I the 
Lord ? and there is no God else besides me ; a just God 



TEXTS IN FAVOR OF ONE GOD ONLY. 269 

and a Saviour: there is none besides me." — Isaiah, xlv. 
21. 

26. "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of 
the earth ; for I am God and there is none else." — Isaiah, 
xlv. 22. 

27. " Eemember the former things of old : for I am God, 
and there is none else ; I am God, and there is none like 
me." — Isaiah, xlvi. 9. 

28. " Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, 
and shalt suck the breast of kings : and thou shalt know 
that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the 
Mighty One of Jacob." — Isaiah, Ix. 16. 

29. "I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger, 
I will not return to destroy Ephraim : for I am God and 
not man ; the Holy One in the midst of thee ; and I will 
not enter into the city." — Hosea, xi. 9. 

30. "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the land of 
Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me : for there is 
no Saviour besides me." — Hosea, xiii. 4. 

31. "And the -Lord shall be king over all the earth ; in 
that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one." — 
Zechariah, xiv. 9. 

32. "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good? there is none good but one, that is God: but if 
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." — Mat- 
thew, xix. 17. 

33. "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good? there is none good but one, that is, God." — Mark, 
x. 18. 

34. "And Jesus answered him, The first of all the com- 
mandments is, Hear, Israel; the Lord our God is one 
Lord."— Mark, xii. 29. 



270 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

35. "And the scribe said unto Mm, Well, Master, thou 
hast said the truth : for there is one God ; and there is 
none other but he."— Mark, xii. 32. 

36. "And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me 
good? none is good, save one, that is, God."- — Luke, 
xviii. 19. 

37. "And this is life eternal, that they might know 
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast 
sent." — John, xvii. 3. 

38. "As concerning therefore, the eating of those 
things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know 
that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is 
none other God but one." — 1 Corinthians, viii. 4. 

39. "Now a mediator is not a mediator of one; but 
God is one." — Galatians, iii. 20. 

40. "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." — Ephesians, 
iv. 5. 

41. "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, 
the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever. 
Amen." — 1 Timothy, ii. 5. 

42. " For there is one God, and one mediator between 
God and men, the man Christ Jesus." — 1 Timothy, ii. 5. 

43. " Thou believest that there is but one God ; thou 
doest well : the devils also believe, and tremble." — James, 
ii. 19. 

Here we have forty-three selected texts, affirming that 
there is but one God. Five of these are the sayings of 
Christ himself. Nine declare that God Jehovah is our 
Saviour or salvation, and one is the endorsement of a 
Scribe to the affirmation of Christ, that the Lord our God 
is one Lord. Now this is remarkable. If Christ is God, 
why is he not so accredited both in the Old and New Tes- 



FURTHER PROOFS. 271 

taments ? This is not the case in either one or the other. 
It is easy to make an assertion we admit, and if that 
assertion is unsupported by good and reliable evidence, it 
is of no account. But if a man makes an assertion on the 
authority of competent testimony, that assertion is entitled 
to our respect and belief. Now, it is asserted by a large 
majority of the Christian Churches that Christ is God : 
but whence do they derive their evidence to support them 
in such an assertion ? We know of none that carries any 
weight with it, and there is certainly none in the Book 
which they rely upon as infallibly true. We assert that 
Christ was not God ; and this, on the testimony of God 
Himself, and the man Jesus, whom the Churches deify. 
Can God lie ? He says, He is not a man that He can 
lie : nor the Son of Man that He can repent. No one 
can fail to see then, from the numerous foregoing texts, 
that we have abundant Bible authority in support of the 
unity of the Godhead ; and that man's final deliverance 
from infirmity and affliction will be wrought out for him 
by the One God, who is both his Creator, Preserver, and 
Redeemer. 

By way of further proof, however, we will devote some 
space to viewing the subject through a variety of phases. 
If Jesus had been God, why did he, at the time of his 
death, commend his soul to God? This we are told that 
he most certainly did. ''And about the ninth hour Jesus 
cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani? 
that is to say, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken 
me?" "And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he 
said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit : and 
having said this, he gave up the ghost." 

Jesus, it is said, was to be a propitiation for the sins of 
mankind, on the assumption that he was God, and man, 



272 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

and without sin. But is this assumption consistent with 
the assertion, that each and every part of the Bible is 
true ? To be without sin, the Bible says, is to be good. 
Sin, therefore, presupposes the absence of goodness. Was 
Jesus good in this way? As we have before shown, he 
says himself, that there is none good but one, that is God. 
He therefore, could not be without sin, neither could he be 
that propitiation for sin that he is said to be, being not 
without sin. 

Again, it is said that after his resurrection, Mary met 
him, and, we presume/ was about to take hold of him, 
when he said unto her, " Touch me not ; for I am not yet 
ascended to my Father ; but go to my brethren and say 
unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father ; 
and to my God and your God." Now, Jesus here repre- 
sents himself as standing in the same relation to God, as 
did the woman to whom he was addressing himself. He 
calls God his Father, in the same sense that he calls Him 
her Father. If he, as he is said to have declared, was 
one with the Father, how could he be Father to himself? 
This is absurd. It makes the theory of the Divinity of 
Jesus simply ridiculous. 

Again, " Believest thou not that I am in the Father; 
and the Father in me ? the words I speak unto you I 
speak not of myself ; but the Father that dwell eth in me, 
he doeth the works." The Father dwelleth in every man 
in the same sense. 

" For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sancti- 
fied are all of one : for which cause he is not ashamed to 
call them all brethren." " Then, answered Jesus, and 
said unto them, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The Son 
can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father 
do : for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the 



FURTHER PROOFS. 273 

Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and show- 
eth him all things that himself doeth ; and he will show 
him greater works than these, that ye may marvel." 

V And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my 
cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized 
with : but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not 
mine to give, but it shall be given to them, for whom it 
is prepared of my Father." This is precisely the reply 
that any man, seeking to establish a kingdom, might 
make to such a question. 

"Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of 
him that sent me, and to fiuish his work," which was, 
to exhort to repentance, and love to God and man. " For 
I have not spoken of myself ; but the Father which sent 
me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and 
what I should speak." " And I know that his command- 
ment is life everlasting ; whatsoever I speak, therefore, 
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." 

So say the Quakers, and others, who conceive that they 
have a call to preach. 

"Jesus saith unto them, If God were your Father, ye 
would love me : for I proceeded forth and came from God ; 
neither came I of myself, but he sent me." 

"If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my 
love : even as I have kept my Father's commandments, 
and abide in his love." 

Any preacher of the Gospel might without any breach 
of propriety, so remark to his flock. 

" At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, 
and ye in me, and I in you." That is, the preacher and 
congregation alike, serving God, each in his appropriate 
way, may have the same mind as the Father within each 
of them. 
18 



274 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

11 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, 
he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shail be 
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will mani- 
fest myself to him." 

" That they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art in me, 
and I in thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the 
world may believe that thou hast sent me." Now, Jesus 
might, with the greatest propriety, make use of such lan- 
guage as this ; and yet be nothing more than a teacher, 
in whom was a large supply of God's illuminating mind 
and goodness. He did, no doubt, earnestly and elo- 
quently, set forth, in the most graceful and glowing colors, 
much that was pure in the eyes of men, and make it 
attractive to them ; and, having the faculty to do this, 
he found a ready witness and response in the hearts of his 
hearers. All this, however, is by no means an evidence 
that he was more than a teacher of extraordinary ability. 

During a considerable portion of his three years minis- 
try, Jesus fully persuaded himself that, by divine right, 
he was entitled to the throne of David. He did not 
believe himself to be God, or to be equal with God ; but 
without doubt he felt assured that he was the person 
designated by the prophets, who was to be the earthly 
ruler and deliverer of the Jews ; and this led him to act 
in conformity with the idea. He fell naturally into the 
custom of the times, by identifying himself with wonder- 
workers. He performed what are called miracles, as many 
others did, to impress the people with a deeper sense of 
the validity of his claim to so exalted a position. 

Like other men, he was created " in the image of 
God;" St. Paul says of him, (Colossians, i. 15,) "who is 
the image of the invisible God." But this did not make 
him God, any more than it did other men, who are 



JESUS' IDEA OF HIS MISSION. 275 

created in that image. An image is not the thing; itself. 
Conspicuous traits in him were, a vivid perception of the 
truth as written upon the hearts of men, an apt mode of 
presenting it in its purity and beauty, and intense zeal in 
portraying it. "To this end," say he, "was I born, and 
for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear 
witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth, 
heareth my voice." — John, xviii. 37. And this "truth" 
comprised the two absorbing ideas of his life — the one 
that he was appointed to mount the throne of David, and 
the other that he was sent of God to preach and teach the 
way to heaven by the practice of religion in its purity. 
Throughout nearly the whole of his ministry, he mani- 
fested extraordinary zeal and made the most strenuous 
efforts in inculcating this double belief. JSTor, considering 
his enthusiasm and the personal gifts with which he was 
graced, need we wonder that many of those about him, 
gradually caught his spirit and espoused his cause. With 
this his course of conduct was consistent ; but totally 
inconsistent with his being God or co-equal with him. 

The terms Christ, Messiah, and The Anointed One, 
are synonomous. This will serve to explain how Jesus 
conceived himself to be entitled, by virtue of the prophe- 
cies, to each or any of these appellations, and saw therein 
his right to the throne of David determined. It was in 
fact, only with respect to these two pretensions that the 
claims of Jesus were upheld before the Jewish people. 
It was not until very late in his lifetime that he conceived 
the idea of the destruction of the world, and the creation 
of a new one wherein the righteous only should dwell, 
being ruled over by himself everlastingly in the flesh. 

The meaning which church doctrine gives to belief in 
Jesus, at this day, is totally at variance with each and all 



276 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

of the views entertained of himself, and finds no warrant 
either in the letter or spirit of his teachings, or in the 
example which his life furnished when rationally inter- 
preted. This makes church theology a thing totally dif- 
ferent from the religion of Jesus. The terms of salvation 
and the only ones that he prescribed were love of God, the 
Father, good works, and kind offices one towards another. 

Neither does he anywhere intimate, in any of his say- 
ings or teachings, that these terms of salvation were to 
be at all changed, added to, or diminished after his death. 
It was left for the Apostle Paul, many years later, to put 
forth a doctrine totally dissenting from that which Jesus 
had taught with such marked effect during his ministry. 
This doctrine of Paul, it is well known, is the basis of 
the Christian theology of our day. In this, the main 
features are, that Jesus voluntarily gave up his life to 
redeem from the consequences of original sin all who 
should have faith that he did actually suffer death for this 
express purpose, that such atonement was both indispen- 
sable and efficacious to the end in view, and that the real 
worth of the sacrifice consists in the fact that the victim 
was co-equal with God. 

If the death of Jesus imposes a belief in this dogma 
as an absolutely essential requisite to eternal life, it may 
be answered, that belief therein is utterly beyond man's 
will, seeing that it is inexplicable in itself and runs 
counter to all we learn by study of God's dealings with 
the world. It is, moreover, wholly out of the reach ot 
those who never heard of it, comprising by far the majority 
of those beings whom God created in his own image. 
Furthermore, we ask, is the death of Jesus to give the lie 
to his life? He preacher!, while alive, a doctrine that he 
who runs may read. Is he, when dead, to be made the 



NO WARRANT FOR THIS IDEA. 277 

centre-piece of a new and incomprehensible theory, under 
which the burden of man's sins is to be shifted off his 
own shoulders? If this be so, while at the same time 
all the laws and obligations imposed by God upon man 
are left in force, then most assuredly the way to eternal 
life has not been facilitated, but impeded by this vica- 
rious offering on the cross. We hold that the death ot 
Jesus works no change in the requisites for our mode of 
salvation. He himself never claimed that it involved 
any change whatever. We contend, therefore, that Paul 
was at fault, in promulgating the idea that it did. Paul, 
too, is evidently at variance on these doctrinal points with 
James, and with Peter also during Jesus' lifetime at least, 
and until after Peter's own first sermon was delivered, 
and yet it is from their conflicting views that the present 
system of Christianity is derived, and by them that it is 
sustained. 

According to the authority of the Apostle Paul and 
the Churches that identify themselves with his views, 
the particular kind of faith or belief in Jesus, which they 
make indispensable for salvation, could have had no 
existence before the death of Jesus. And the belief 
which they imperatively demand is not that he will die 
at some specified or indefinite time ; but that he did die. 
The faith therefore upon which Paul and the Christian 
churches rely for salvation, finds no analogy, precedent, 
or support in the faith inculcated by Jesus, and avowed 
by his Apostles during his lifetime. The new creed, for 
so it may well be called, materially changes the order of 
worship, or of Divine Service. Jesus himself made God 
the Father the crowning object of his worship. The 
Churches, on the contrary, put Jesus prominently in the 
foreground. God the Father whom Jesus acknowledged 



278 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

as the source and fountain of all that is good, being com- 
paratively kept out of sight. 

The extreme views of Paul and the fickleness of Peter 
hereon do not need any further elucidation ; but the sub- 
joined passage from the Epistle of James (chapter ii.) 
serves to show that this Apostle maintained that men 
have been, and may be justified solely through good 
works and the grace of Jehovah. And this view con- 
forms with the largely preponderating weight of evidence 
in the Scriptures : to wit, that Jehovah is the one and 
only true God, Redeemer, and Saviour of mankind, in 
proof of which we have elsewhere cited voluminous texts. 
The Apostle James says, " What doth it profit, my 
brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not 
works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be 
naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto 
them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled ; notwith- 
standing ye give them not those things which are needful 
to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it 
hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may 
say, Thou hast faith, and I have works ; shew me thy 
faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith 
by my works. Thou believest that there is one God, 
thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble. 
But wilt thou know, vain man, that faith without 
works is dead ? Was not Abraham our father justified by 
works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? 
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by 
works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture was 
fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was 
imputed unto him for righteousness and he was called the 
Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man 
is justified, and not by faith only." 



TEXTS DISPROVING JESUS' DIVIMTY. 279 

Abraham, it is true, is described as offering sacrifice ; 
but it was in accordance with custom, his whole-souled 
faith being based on God-Jehovah, not Jesus. Therefore, 
the only belief necessary in connection with good works, 
to insure salvation, is belief in the Almighty Jehovah ; 
and this is in flat contradiction to the doctrine of the 
Churches. Thus we have Paul and the Churches, on one 
side of this vexed and dogmatical question ; and Jesus, 
James, Natural Religion, and the balance of Biblical 
authority, on the other. 

There is nothing in the Bible from Jesus shewing that 
he ever entertained the idea that man was created perfect 
and fell from that state through Adam, or that his (Jesus') 
crucifixion would prepare the way for man's restoration in 
accordance with the scheme of Christian Theology, neither 
does the Bible furnish a single unequivocal declaration 
from Jesus to the effect that he claimed himself to be 
co-equal with. God ; nor does it contain a solitary word 
from him, that could bear such construction, which he did 
not subsequently explain away, or which has not since 
been proved to be erroneous. 

In denying having claimed to be God, when the Jews 
were about to stone him for what they deemed equivalent 
to such a claim, he asserts that he made no such declara- 
tion, or anything that could be construed into such, and 
cites the Jewish laws, customs, and practices in support 
of his assertion. — John, x. 33, 34, 35, 36. 

Furthermore, it is plain from the following texts, that 
the term God, as applied to Jesus, does not necessarily 
mean God the Creator of the universe : " Your eyes 
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods knowing good 
and evil." — Genesis, iii. 5 ; " And the Lord said unto 
Moses, See I have made thee a god to Pharaoh." — 



2S0 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

Exodus, vii. 1 ; " Who is like unto thee, Oh, Lord, among 
the Gods ?" — Exodus, xv. 2 ; ''For the Lord your God, is 
God of Gods." — Deuteronomy, x. 17 ; " Among the gods 
there is none like unto thee, 0, Lord." — Psalm, lxxxvi. 
8 ; " Thou, Lord, art high above all the earth ; thou art- 
exalted far above all Gods." — Psalm, xcvii. 9. 

Again, what could be more emphatic than the follow- 
ing language of the Apostle Paul ? " For, though there 
be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth— as 
there be gods many and lords many. Put to us there is 
but one God, the Father of whom are all things, and we 
in Him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all 
things, and we by Him." — 1 Corinthians, viii. 5, 6 ; 
" For, therefore, we both labor and suffer reproach, because 
we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, 
especially of those that believe." — 1 Timothy, iv. 10. 

Now, within these three texts, three points are laid 
down with decisive clearness. One is that the living God 
is the Saviour of all men, as distinguished from Jesus, 
who is nowhere, in the Bible, absolutely called the living 
God. Another is, that there is but one God, the Father 
of all men, and consequently the Father of Jesus. The 
third is, that all men are in God the Father and He in 
them. The expression of Jesus, " the Father is in me, 
and I in Him," implied nothing more than that relation- 
ship which exists between God and every one of mankind. 
The same is true as to his saying, " I and my Father are 
one " — that is, I and my Heavenly Father are one in 
purpose. Every man is an instrument in God's hands for 
the accomplishment of his ends ; and inasmuch as God 
has made sure that man shall co-operate with Him to 
serve these ends, in the way and to the full extent of His 
original intention — every man in a certain sense is one 



JESUS' TEACHING. 281 

in purpose with God. It is evident that this is all, that 
Jesus could have meant by the expression. The closing 
sentence in the last of the texts above quoted may per- 
haps be taken as illustrative of the changing or mixed 
nature of Paul's religious views. A Pharisee himself, 
and the son of a Pharisee, and brought up at the feet of 
Gamaliel, he had nevertheless emancipated himself from 
Jewish tradition, and was content to preach that true and 
only religion which makes — to use his own words — " the 
living God the Saviour of all men." Not yet an advo- 
cate of that awful doctrine of the church, which dooms 
the great bulk of mankind to everlasting torment, he had, 
as it were, a foretaste of its exclusiveness ; and this found 
vent in his mild phrasing, especially of those that believe. 
But whatever Paul's trimming, or meaning, all men believe 
that there is a God to whom they are accountable, know 
right from wrong, and believe that virtue is more estima- 
ble than vice. But some men shape their daily conduct 
under the influence of this belief, and actuated by their 
agency more in accordance with their duty to God, their 
neighbor, and their own welfare, than others. Every 
man, owing in some measure to the various circumstances 
which surround him, is at different times more or less 
governed by varying influences. Hence, exhorting men 
to repent of their evil deeds, and to practice good works, 
is among the services which one man may render to 
another ; and in this Jesus made himself conspicuous. 
He exhorted men to be mindful of and to practice the 
religion of the heart and conscience ; and no doubt with 
marked success and excellent effect. And since such 
practice is the important thing, the all-in-all, for this and 
the future life, and, as the most stimulating influence 
thereto came to the many by and through Jesus' instru- 



282 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

mentality, under the natural promptings originally im- 
planted in man, it might with truth he said that the 
things that were all -important came from God, by and 
through Jesus, in a natural way. Thus simply is explained 
the expression in the text, " Christ by whom are all things, 
and we by him,." 

The exhorting men to repentance and the practice ot 
good works, we say, was one among the services by which 
Jesus made himself conspicuous. Repentance was the 
great, the predominant theme of his life. It was more 
on his lips than any other. His name was more inti- 
mately associated with it, than with any other. It is evi- 
dent, therefore, that he conceived that the great want of 
the Jewish people, and particularly of the Jewish priest- 
hood and others in authority, was repentance. And it was 
for his persistent cry to this end, and his pretensions to 
the Messiahship, that he suffered persecution and death. 
On these two ideas he staked his all. And being instru- 
mental in causing the Jewish people to repent and return 
to a more consistent course, his disciples continued the 
work in his name and under its prestige. 

It is important here, however, to observe, that, accord- 
ing to the record, Jesus in his last and most important 
interview with his disciples, spoke not a single word that 
can, by the remotest inference, be construed as enjoining 
upon them to preach or inculcate belief or faith in certain 
claims, since set up on his behalf. These were, that he 
was co-equal with God, and that belief or faith in such 
asserted dogma was indispensable to salvation. This 
omission assists greatly in determining the much disputed 
question of his relationship with God. As we before 
remarked, there is no Bible record to show in a plain and 
unmistakable manner, that Jesus, out of his own mouth, 



JESUS NEVER CLAIMED DIVINITY. 283 

ever pretended to be co-equal with God, the Lord Jehovah. 
On the other hand, there are numerous sayings of his 
which disclaim, or are inconsistent with, any such preten- 
sions. Take, for example, the following citations. He 
had spoken of God as his Father : on account of which, 
" The Jews took up stones and stoned him. Jesus 
answered them, many good works have I showed you 
from my Father ; for which of these works do ye stone 
me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work 
we stone thee not : but for blasphemy, and because that 
thou being a man makest thyself God. Jesus answered 
them, Is it not written in your law, I said ye are Gods ? 
If he called them Gods unto whom the word, of God came, 
and the scripture cannot be broken ; Say ye of him whom 
the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou 
blasphemest, because I said, I am the Son of God? If I 
do not the works of my Father believe me not. But 
if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works : 
that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, 
and I in him." — John, x. 31-38. This is equivalent to 
saying that it did not follow, nor did he intend it to be so 
understood, that because he said, " the Father is in me 
and I in him," he therefore claimed equality with God 
the Father, and Creator of all mankind. In justification 
of himself, he cites the license, which the Scriptures give, 
to call those men gods unto whom the word of God came. 
It is evident, therefore, from this explanation of his hav- 
ing said, " I and my Father are one," that he meant that 
he was God, only in the ordinary sense of the word ; that 
by diligently doing the works of the one God, as others 
bad done unto whom the word of God came, he had the 
same claim to such an honorable estimation and title. In 
the event, however, of their not vet being prepared to 



284 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

acknowledge even this subdued claim, he took the pre- 
caution to refer them to the result of his works, as prov- 
ing that he was engaged in promulgating God's will, less 
entangled with error than was the case with their then 
accepted teachers. 

It may be well to bear in mind, too, that the Apostle 
Paul nowhere gives Jesus the title of the Living God; 
neither did he believe him to be the Saviour of men. 
He speaks clearly to this point in two texts, one of which 
has been already quoted : "For therefore we both labor 
and suffer reproach, because we trust in the Living God, 
who is the Saviour of all men." — 1 Timothy, iv. 10 ; "As 
concerning therefore, the eating of those things that are 
offered in sacrifice to idols, we know an idol is nothing in 
the world, and that there is none other God but one." — 
1 Corinthians, viii. 4. 

Christian theology maintains that Jesus came into the 
world and took on him the form of a man, for the express 
purpose of suffering crucifixion as a propitiation for the 
sins of the world. This is in direct contradiction to Jesus' 
own declared views on the subject. He says: "To this 
end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, 
that I should bear witness unto the truth." — John, xviii. 
37. In other words, he meant that his mission was to 
preach natural religion, love to God, love to man, and 
good works, uncontaminated by the dogmas of the Jewish 
priests. This view is confirmed out of his own lips, in 
another place : "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice : for 
I am not come to call the righteous but sinners to repent- 
ance." — Matthew, ix. 3. In fact what he here conceived 
to be his relation to God and man corresponds exactly 
with what any conscientious minister of the Gospel might 
say of himself, and forces the conviction that he esteemed 



INGENUITY OF THE PRIESTS. 285 

himself nothing more than man, in any sense of the word. 
This estimate is consistent with the every-day practice of 
his life. "And Jesus went about all the cities and vil- 
lages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the 
gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and 
every disease among the people." — Matthew, ix. 34. 

No other view than this, of his own conception of his 
vocation and office can, in our judgment, be derived from 
the Bible. None other, we think, can be reached by any 
fair and rational construction, unbiased by preconceived 
opinions imbibed from the false and forced constructions 
of those who make it their business to mystify and 
entangle the dogmas, theologies, and creeds of their own 
invention with true religion — with the religion of nature — 
with the religion of which Jehovah is, at once, the 
founder, the great high-priest, and the preserver, and of 
which Jesus was, in much of his teachings — though not 
the author — a remarkably true and zealous expounder. 
At the same time, while there is no reliable proof that 
Jesus is God, there is much to the contrary, which ought, 
as we conceive, to be conclusive to all. The negative 
evidence is so strong, that no one can pretend that Jesus 
ever occupied the throne of David in the capacity pre- 
dicted, or in any other. This alone, in all fairness should 
suffice for the total discredit of all the prophecies upon 
which his Messiahship has been based ; and would do so, 
were it not for the ingenuity, adroitness, learning, mental 
ability and persistence, of the leading priests in ancient 
and modern times. The former, in an age when super- 
stition and ignorance favored their designs, stimulated by 
pecuniary interest, and a greed for domination, ensnared 
their unsuspecting victims into a web of the marvellous 
and mysterious, which for the unenlightened has a charm 



286 ONE RELIGION : MANY GREEDS. 

so intricate, so subtle, and so strong, that generations of 
intellectual culture were required to extricate men from its 
toils. As to the modern priesthood, while the craving 
for wealth and power equally subsists in them, the 
moment the fallacy of their teaching is detected, they 
shape and twist their theology, interpreting this passage 
of scripture symbolically, and that one literally, as serves 
the occasion, so that it becomes well nigh impossible to 
bring them to an acknowledgment of the untenableness 
of their position. Thus, if they cannot elude detection 
as to the hollowness of many among their ingeniously 
contrived devices, they at least find some loop-hole for 
escape ; and the more they are pressed to the wall by the 
intelligence of the age, the more vehemently they cry out : 
" He that belie veth and is baptized shall be saved; but 
he that believeth not, shall be damned." Nor could 
there be a more striking instance of clerical perversion, 
than occurs in reference to this denunciation. It is 
applied from a thousand pulpits, to the whole complicated 
theory of original sin and redemption by the blood of 
Christ. Under what circumstances did Jesus utter it? 
With respect to the scheme, as it is well called, of salva- 
tion ? Not at all. Immediately preceding the record of 
these words, is this verse, (Mark, xvi. 14 :) "Afterward 
he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at. meat, and 
upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, 
because they believed not them which had seen him after 
he was risen." Not a word here touching sin or sacrifice. 
It is only unbelief in his personal identity — the unbelief 
of his own disciples then before him — that is so uncere- 
moniously denounced by Jesus. But the time is fast 
approaching, when all this cloud of error will be dispersed, 
and the craft of a profession rendered futile. Human 



CHARACTER OF JESUS' PRECEPTS. 287 

£&d physical slavery has been compelled to succumb, at 
the mandate of educated honesty. The enslavers of 
human intellect must, ere long, lose their prestige over 
the intellects of others, and cease to prey upon the pecu- 
niary substance of their fellow-men. Conscience, com- 
mon sense, and culture, are fast gaining the mastery over 
church theology and a dogmatic priesthood. 

The doctrine of Jesus is nowhere more plainly laid 
down, than in his own description of the view that will 
be taken of the conduct of men by the final judge of the 
world. "I was," says he, "a hungered, and ye gave me 
meat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a 
stranger, and ye took me in : Naked and ye clothed me ; I 
was sick, and ye visited me : I was in prison, and ye came 
unto me." In reply to the enquiry, when these things 
were done in his behalf, the King says that, "Inasmuch 
as they were done to the least of his little ones, they were 
done unto him." — Matthew, xxv. 35, 36. Such is what 
Jesus considers to be requisite for entering into the King- 
dom of Heaven, that is to say, good works, which are, 
practically, love to God and love to man. He conceives 
that there is nothing further required. The grand aim of 
his own life, at least of the earlier parts of it, seem to have 
been to manifest such a disposition. I am come, said he, 
on another occasion, " not to destroy, but to fulfill the 
law ;" and the context shows that he had reference to the 
moral law of God, which was over him in common with 
all mankind. He therefore exhorted all about him to 
strive for this one thing, to become obedient to the laws of 
God, that they might be like Him — God. " Be ye, 
therefore, perfect," said he, " as your Father also is per- 
fect." — Matthew, v. 48. His precepts and teachings in 
detail, too, were all of this same character. " Blessed 



288 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

are the merciful/' said he, " for they shall obtain mercy. 
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 
Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the 
children of God."— Matthew, v. 7, 8, 9 ; "Do not com- 
mit adultery ; Do not steal ; Do not bear false witness ; 
Deiraud not ; Honor thy father and mother." — Mark, x. 
19 ; " Forgive men their trespasses." — Matthew, vi. 14; 
" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye 
even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets." — 
Matthew, vii. 12. Now, what a catalogue of good works 
does he here collect which, while they have no reference 
to any peculiar sentiments of his own, are accepted and 
inculcated by him, as the teaching of God to all men, 
through their intuitions ; and proper sense of right ; and 
which he considered himself as much bound to obey as 
ourselves. And that he and others who lived by this 
rule, might be acknowledged as so doing, he gave a test 
whereby men might judge in this matter: "Ye shall 
know them by their fruits," said he ; and again, •' A 
good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth 
forth good things." He was a good man, but he claimed 
to be nothing more. He nowhere speaks of himself as 
God — on the contrary he almost invariably calls himself, 
" The Son of Man ;" and defends himself from the charge 
of calling himself God, when using expressions that were 
so construed, on the plea that such expressions were 
allowable under the Jewish usages, without implying that 
he made himself God. That this is his estimate of him- 
self may be seen still more clearly. He quotes from the 
Old Testament — and, " The first of all the command- 
ments " is ' Hear, 0, Israel ; the Lord our God is ONE 
LORD.' " He thus emphatically acknowledges that there 
is but one God, which is equivalent to denying that he 



CHARACTER OF JESUS' PRECEPTS. 289 

himself was God. But if this is not deemed sufficient, 
hear what he says further : " Worship the Father in spirit 
and in truth." — John, iv. 23 ; " Jesus said unto them, My 
meat is to do the will of him that sent me." — John, iv. 
34; "I speak not of myself; the Father which sent 
me gave me the commandments." — John, v. 37 ; " My 
Father is greater than I." — John, xiv. 28. Now, are not 
these expressions equally applicable to, and proper to be 
made by all men, who are teachers of true religion ? 
So far as our knowledge extends, through our natural 
instincts and intuitions, there neither is, nor can be, any 
intermediate grade of being or beings between God and 
man. 

But is it claimed that he was sent by the Father, and 
that he was endowed with supernatural powers, because 
he said, "And this is life eternal that they might know 
thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou 
hast sent." — John, xviii. 31. In the same sense God sends 
every man into the world. It is the light of God in the 
soul of man which is his true Teacher; "That was the 
true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world." — John, i. 9; "Behold the Kingdom of God is 
within you." — Luke, xvii. 21 ; "Fear not, for it is the 
Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." — Luke, 
xii. 32. " Blessed are they who hear the word of God and 
keep it," — Luke, xi. 28, — that is, blessed are they who 
hear and obey the voice of conscience and the teaching of 
the external universe; " He that doeth truth cometh to 
the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they 
are wrought in God." — John, iii. 21; "Jesus answered 
them, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me," — 
John, vii. 16, — it would be well if all teachers could con- 
scientiously say this; "Jesus cried and said, he that 
19 



290 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

belie veth on me, belie veth not on me, but on him that 
sent me." — John, xii. 44 ; which is of extreme signifi- 
cance in determining this question, as it is equivalent to 
saying that belief in him is a mere figure of speech, to 
indicate belief in the God Jehovah. Prom this it is evi- 
dent that, wherever Jesus speaks of man's welfare as 
being advanced by love to, and belief in him, he simply 
means that man is to believe in and love and practice 
the doctrines which he is urging on the attention of his 
hearers, and these are always of one and the same im- 
port : — love to God and man. Take collectively those 
exhortations of Jesus which are recorded in the Bible ; 
and, although they are not always in harmony or con- 
sistent with each other, the only rational deduction and 
conclusion to be drawn from them is, that he conceived 
himself to stand in the same relation to God as other 
men, except that he was inculcating a purer doctrine than 
that taught by those about him. And it is this separa- 
tion of true religion from error, at a day when it was so 
pre-eminently needed, that made him dear to the people 
of that period and his remembrance precious to succeed- 
ing generations. His saying, " believe in me," meant 
nothing further than believe in the doctrines which 1 
teach, and which go by my name, thus implying that he 
is but as other men, who advocate religion in its purity. 
By thus associating himself with other men in the 
duties of his office and ministry, it is evident that, accord- 
ing to his view, they all stand in the same relation to 
God ; that he and they are all alike the recipients of 
God's love — all alike subject to his laws, will, and guid- 
ance. The only difference between him and those about 
him was, that he set himself up as their Teacher, and 
that they acknowledged themselves to be his disciples. 



CHARACTER OF JESUS' PRECEPTS. 291 

This view of Jesus and his vocation is far better sup- 
ported by his own sayings and doings, than the position, 
attributes, and functions assigned to him by the Christian 
Church. It may be that, at times, he went a little 
beyond the natural teaching of God to all men — no doubt 
he did in some of the kindly feelings and offices, which 
he conceived should be entertained and practised by men 
one towards another. Perhaps in some particulars they 
are too refined for general observance and application. 
Indeed, it will be at once recognized fefeat that they are 
more than average human nature is capable of manifest- 
ing. Of such kind are these : " But I say unto you that 
ye resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on thy 
right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man 
will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him 
have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee 
to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to hi in that 
asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn 
not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, 
thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. 
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them which hate you ; and pray for 
them which despitefully use you and persecute you." — 
Matthew, v. 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44. 

Still, making allowance for these exaggerations, we 
maintain that the only practicable mode of manifesting 
ardent love to God is the actual performance, with lively 
diligence, of those things which are just, and true and 
good. This is inculcated by Jesus in most impressive 
terms, some of which we have quoted, and his seal is put 
upon the worth of this practical faith, by his emphatic 
saying, with reference to charities ; " Inasmuch as ye 
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren 



292 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

ye have done it unto me." Whoever follows this course 
faithfully and sincerely, we insist is a religious man in 
the fullest sense of the word, notwithstanding the com- 
bined declarations of all Christendom to the contrary. 

The denunciations of Jesus were as emphatic as they 
could be against those who incidentally perverted his 
teachings, which, though imparted by God to all men 
without Jesus' aid, were so enthusiastically enforced by 
him as to produce great uneasiness and consternation 
amongst the corrupt rulers and priesthood of his time — 
indeed, so much so, as to cause him to be falsely accused 
and murdered on the cross, under pretence of judicial 
authority. Among the rebukes administered by Jesus to 
the priesthood of his day are there not some as applicable 
now, to that same class of individuals, as they were then? 
" For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the 
tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups ; and 
many other such like things ye do. Ye reject the com- 
mandments of God that ye may keep your own tradi- 
tion." " Making the word of God of none effect through 
your tradition, which ye have delivered : and many such 
like things do ye." — Mark, vii. 8, 9, 13. 

To the simple teachings of Nature and Jesus, theolo- 
gians add that of natural depravity of man. This idea 
is false in its conception. It is an imputation against 
the wisdom and goodness of God, and blasphemous in its 
character. It implies that God is neither Omnipotent 
nor Omniscient ; that He is unable to create and control 
all things aright according to His will and pleasure. 

Exciting terror in the minds of men, by teaching the 
doctrine of eternal torment, is another imputation against 
God's infinite goodness. These and many others of a 
similar nature, we hesitate not to say have had their ori- 



ANANIAS AND SAPPHIRA. 293 

gin in the attempts of dishonest and designing men to 
defraud their more honest and unsuspecting fellow-crea- 
tures. Examples of this we have, even amongst the 
earliest, and perhaps more sincere followers of Jesus ; 
nay, even amongst those who are called his Apostles. 
Take the welT-known story of Ananias and Sapphira as 
a sample : " Neither was there any among them that 
lacked : for as many as were possessors of lands or houses 
sold them and brought the prices of the things that were 
sold, And laid them down at the Apostles' feet : and dis- 
tribution was made unto every man according as he had 
need. 

" And Joses, who by the Apostles was surnamed Barna- 
bas, (which is being interpreted, The son of consolation,) 
a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus. Having land, 
sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the Apos- 
tles' feet." — Acts, iv. 34, 35, 36, 37. "But a certain 
man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a pos- 
session. And kept back part of the price, his wife also 
being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it 
at the Apostles' feet. But, Peter said, Ananias, why 
hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, 
and to keep back part of the price of the land ? While 
it remained, was it not thine own, and after it was sold, 
was it not in thine own power ? Why hast thou con- 
ceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied 
unto men, but unto God. And Ananias hearing these 
words, fell down and gave up the ghost: and great fear 
came on them that heard these things. And the young 
men arose, wound him up, and carried him out and 
buried him. And it was about the space of three hours 
after, when his wife, not knowing what was done, came 
in. And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye 



294 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

sold the land for so much ? And she said, Yea, for so 
much. Then, Peter said unto her, How is it that ye 
have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the Lord ? 
Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband 
are at the door, and shall carry thee out. Then fell she 
down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost ; 
and the young men came in, and found her dead, and 
carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And 
great fear came upon all the church, and upon as many 
as heard these things." — Acts, v. 1 — 11. The idea at- 
tempted to be inculcated by these representations is, that 
God was so incensed and offended with the persons who 
withheld a part of their possessions for their own use, 
instead of giving it all to the Apostles, that He, instantly, 
by an especial act, struck them dead. Now, this we hold 
to be entirely at variance with God's dealings with his 
creatures at this or any other time and place, and the 
promulgation of such a story was, as we conceive, a 
trick, a cheat, for the purpose of extorting money from 
and gaining domination over those susceptible of being so 
wrought upon through their fears. If it shall be sug- 
gested as possible that the death of these persons took 
place in accordance with the natural workings of God's 
universal and never-varying laws, we reply : Had it 
been Ananias alone who was said to be stricken dead, we 
might attribute his death to the effect of sudden shame 
or fear acting upon a system deranged by high nervous 
excitement. Rare as such cases are, they are not entirely 
inconsistent with the physical laws of our being, nor alto- 
gether beyond our natural experiences. But, when a 
second person, after so brief an interval, is put through 
the same identical process of cross-questioning, condemna- 
tion, and collapse, even the most extreme credulity takes 



KATIONAL EXPLANATION. 295 

alarm and shies off. One fortuitous coincidence between 
Peter's denunciation and the breaking of human heart 
strings might be received as a possible circumstance. 
Two such fortuitous coincidences, coming one close upon 
another, pass all bounds of credibleness. If it be claimed 
that the persons of the day of the early Apostles had 
more tender consciences in regard to lying or false pre- 
tence than those of our day, and, therefore, might be 
more likely to die from a sense of shame on account of 
having been detected in making false representations, it 
so happens that we are not without means of testing the 
susceptibility of the Apostles themselves, which at least 
should not fall below that of the common people about 
them. It appears from Bible record that Peter, the ver- 
itable Apostle who accused Ananias of lying, spoke falsely 
when he denied knowledge of Jesus thrice in succession. 
But, when detected, he neither fell dead from shame, nor 
was he stricken down by the Almighty. Again, the 
character and the false spirit of Judas are indicated by 
his betrayal of Jesus into the hands of his enemies, and 
by his own thieving propensities. All this proves that 
human nature was no better in the time of Peter and 
Judas, than now ; and this puts it beyond possible credi- 
bility that Ananias and his wife died (if death there was) 
of a broken heart. 

This leaves no alternative but to refer their death to a 
supernatural cause. Now, we appeal to the rational and 
common-sense men of our day, whether, if at this time, 
and in any part of the world, an occurrence of the kind 
under consideration was said to have taken place as a 
supernatural and especial exhibition of God's vengeance, 
for the cause assigned by the Apostle Peter, it would 
receive the slightest credence ? And yet, this is the 



296 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

version that Peter gives of the pretended phenomena. 
We further submit whether the claiming of Peter, that 
God in his vengeance smote two persons dead in quick 
succession, for the cause assigned, does not come with a 
particularly ill grace from a person notoriously untruthful, 
from one whom Jesus denounced as Satanic, and as savor- 
ing not duly of the things of God. It is further submitted, 
whether if the death of the persons in question did occur 
at the time and place, and under the circumstances nar- 
rated, is it not more likely that it resulted from foul play, 
instigated by the Apostles for base purposes, rather than 
that the immediate cause of death was the upbraidings of 
conscience, fear, or the supernatural visitation of God mani- 
fested for the express purpose of frightening people into 
putting all their property at the disposal of the Apostles. 
And this trick, as we deem it, had for a time the expected 
effect; and "great fear came upon all the Church and 
upon as many as heard these things." These people 
were evidently made to fear lest they should not conform 
to the wishes of the Apostles, and thereby subject them- 
selves to the summary vengeance of God invoked by 
them. And, we are told that "by the hands of the 
Apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among 
the people And of the rest durst no man join him- 
self to them." Unclean spirits also, as we say, were pre- 
tended to be cast out, another false pretence for the gain- 
ing of power. "And believers were the more added to 
the Lord, both men and women." 

We have no doubt but that the character of this belief 
was that, if they — that is, all upon whom great fear 
came — did not blindly follow the bidding of the Apostles 
in relation to the giving up all their property to them, 
they could not escape the vengeance of the Lord, which 



THREAT OF ETERNAL PUNISHMENT. 297 

the Apostles would invoke against them. This presents 
a dark picture of human nature ; but the odium pertains 
but to a comparative few — the mass of mankind are of 
the better sort. 

We are happy to believe that a large majority of the 
enlightened men of our day and country not only disbe- 
lieve, that the man and his wife were stricken down by 
God for the reason assigned by the Apostles ; they also 
are shocked by the hypocrisy, and perchance the mur- 
derous spirit, involved in the affair. But the Apostles 
were not without their competitors and imitators in this 
respect. There were at that time many different churches, 
doctrines, and creeds, some of which preceded them. The 
leaders of the earlier sects, perceiving that the new 
comers were even more greedy than themselves — claiming 
not only a part of men's substance, but the whole — feared 
lest there would be nothing; left. On this account, and 
on account of the growing influence of the Apostles, they 
often came in conflict with each other ; and one of the 
results of these feuds, is thus set down . ''The high priest 
rose up, and all they that were with him, which is the 
sect of the Sadducees, and were filled with indignation. 
And laid their hands on the Apostles, and put them in 
the common prison." — Acts, v. 17, 18. 

We trace, also in this transaction, the germ of that 
dominating and grasping spirit which was carried to so 
revolting a pitch by the Christian Church, during the 
dark and middle ages, as is seen elsewhere in this work. 
And yet, there are many practices, in some of the Chris- 
tian Churches, at the present time, which are only a little 
less glaring and despicable. 

A striking analogy exists between Peter's intimidating 
process for raising revenue for the Church, and that which 



298 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

yet so extensively prevails. We allude especially to the 
menacing of the people by threats of everlasting punish- 
ment if they do not embrace a particular dogma or article 
of faith to the exclusion of many others. Might it not 
be said, therefore, that herein Peter is the symbolic foun- 
dation of the Church, which is so faithful to his propen- 
sities, and which, we augur, will not be able much longer, 
to withstand the flood of light, common sense, and reason, 
that menaces it, both in this and other countries? 

We proceed to point to some of the other devices, that 
are resorted to at the present day, for swelling the coffers 
of the Church, and which we conceive to be altogether 
unjustifiable. Prominent among them is the preaching of 
mystical and wonder-exciting dogmas and theologies, and 
the exhibition of imposing ritualism, ceremonies, and 
paraphernalia, the invention and traditions of men, so 
appropriately condemned by Jesus in these pertinent 
words : " For laying aside the commandments of God, ye 
hold the tradition of men. * * * Making the word of 
God of none effect through your traditions. " Again, the 
fable of Purgatory is instrumental in extracting large 
sums from those who are made to believe that their 
deceased friends are suffering terrific torments therein, 
and can only be released from it by the prayers of the 
Church, which prayers can only be procured by money 
forthcoming. The granting of indulgences by the Church, 
which in plainer language means the privilege to sin, and 
absolution from the consequences of sin — neither of which 
God ever grants — may also be named as prolific and dis- 
graceful sources of revenue to the Church. Representing 
God as punishing the smallest sin everlastingly, with the 
most excruciating torment, in a wrathful and vindictive 
spirit — unless the sinner has full faith that Jesus is 



JESUS NOT A SAVIOUR. 299 

co-equal with Jehovah, and that he (Jesus) is the only 
Saviour of men from everlasting punishment, entailed on 
them by reason of the sin of Adam — is another of the 
whips with which they scourge the people. This threat- 
ening with God's vengeance all, who are not within the 
pale of the Church, is of the same character as the farce 
enacted by the apostles before mentioned, and is resorted 
to with a similar view. Its object is to frighten into their 
net all those who, susceptible of being so operated upon, 
and thus, incidentally, to swell the church's gain. Such 
an intimidating process cannot be persisted in by the 
clergy, with an eye single to the spiritual and temporal 
welfare of their hearers, while at the same time they have 
a full knowledge of the existence of such Bible testimony 
as is here cited ; "Yet I am the Lord thy God from the 
land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no God but me : for 
there is no Saviour beside me." — Hosea, xiii. 4; "I am 
the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." 
Isaiah, xliii. 3 ; "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me 
there is no Saviour." — Isaiah, xliii. 11 ; "And all flesh shall 
know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, 
the Mighty One of Jacob." — Isaiah, xlix. 25; " We trust 
in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, espe- 
cially of those that believe," — 1 Timothy, iv. 10; and 
we insist that all men believe, as we heretofore endeavored 
to show. The appellation of the Living God is nowhere 
in the Bible applied to Jesus. Peter called him the Son 
of the Living God, but we have before shown that this 
might be applied to other men as well as to Jesus. In 
addition to the foregoing, however, there are in the Bible 
a dozen or more texts, directly affirming that there is but 
one God, and not a word positively declaring that Jesus 
is God — -co-equol with Jehovah. 



300 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

But further proof of the erroneous dogmas and decla- 
rations of the Church can be furnished: "All flesh shall 
see the salvation of God." — Luke, iii. 4, 6 ; "And the 
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see 
it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." — 
Isaiah, xl. 5. These texts give assurance that each 
human being will be saved by The Lord God-Jehovah, 
to the enjoyment of His glory — not by Jesus, as some 
assert. They are also irreconcilable with the church 
dogma, that the majority of mankind will be the subjects 
of God's everlasting vengeance. If it shall be objected 
that there is Bible authority for such a dogma, and suffi- 
cient for it, then we say that this does but show that the 
Bible is fallible, and the production of fallible men, since 
God cannot contradict himself. 

If the human soul is placed upon earth as a preparatory 
measure to fit it for an existence in eternity, the natural 
inference is, that the soul retains the main characteristics 
throughout, and there is nothing in the so-called word of 
God, to contradict this idea. The soul naturally craves 
constant progression from one state to that of another. 
A continued state of rest, even unattended with pain or 
want, cannot afford happiness, nothing short of progress 
from incident to incident, from new interests to new 
interests, can satisfy the soul — to be happy it must be in 
harmony with the gravitating influence which is ever 
leading it on the great mission of assimilating itself to its 
Maker. Restlessness is one of the great features with 
which God has endowed the soul, to the end that it may 
never cease seeking Him and finding out more and more 
the wondrous ways and mysteries of God, and glorifying 
him — and yet the theologians tell us that beyond the 
grave the blessings of Christ's kingdom shall be peace and 



THE SPIRIT RESTLESS. 301 

quietness forever. "And my people shall dwell in peace- 
able habitations and in sure dwellings, and in quiet rest- 
ing places." — Isaiah, xxxii. 18. This is adverse to the 
great purposes of God. The course of the human spirit 
is onward. 

Man, so far as we know, is the only created being 
endowed with qualities capable of comprehending and 
appreciating the wisdom, goodness and glory of God. 
Shall his brief existence upon earth, while there is an 
eternity before him, be the limit of time allowed to 
complete his strivings to know God, the inexhaustible — 
no; the normal condition of the human soul is neither 
perpetual rest in peace or perpetual torment, but a never 
ceasing activity in cultivating and bringing itself more 
and more to the appreciation of its Maker. The follow- 
ing is quite as wide of the true nature of the soul as the 
foregoing theological view. The Bible narrative in rela- 
tion to our first parents, is so construed by the Church, as 
to inculcate the idea that Adam and Eve and all their 
posterity, were originally intended by God to live a life 
of ease, and without labor, pain, care, death, or anything 
else to disturb them from a perfect state of peace, happi- 
ness and quietness, instead of experiencing the vicissi- 
tudes incident to an active life of good works. A further 
construction of the theologians put upon this fable, would, 
if true, present the matter thus — 

If the first human pair had not eaten of the forbidden 
fruit, no one of the human family would have perceived 
that their nakedness was uncomely in the presence of 
others; in other words, there would have been no such 
trait in human character as modesty. The inauguration 
of modesty appears from the Bible narrative to have 
been the very first consequences of disobedience of com- 



302 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

mand, and it is apparent, as the story goes, that God 
recognized the sensation of shame which Adam and Eve 
experienced in consequence of their nakedness as being 
praiseworthy, inasmuch as he, without delay, assisted 
them in administering to it by making both for Adam 
and Eve coats of skins and clothing them. Another 
inference from the narrative in question is, that but for 
the disobedience of our original parents, no one of the 
human family would ever have became so assimilated to 
God as to know good from evil. The further inference 
is that man, by his first breach of divine law, learned that 
the true enjoyment of life and existence consisted in act- 
ing in conformity to the law, which is equivalent to the 
partaking of the tree of life. 

Now admitting, for the argument, that these Bible nar- 
ratives are other than fables, it follows that but for origi- 
nal sin we should have been without modesty, without 
any knowledge of the difference between good and evil, 
without any assimilation to God, and without knowledge 
of the way which leads to life eternal — in short, on a 
level with the brute creation. 

Now, if all these consequences of original sin are to be 
abolished according to the Church version of the subject, 
by resurrection through Christ, w T ould we be the gainers 
by such restoration, to the original ignorance and absence 
of shame of nudeness imputed to our first parents before 
they had eaten the forbidden fruit. 

It has been remarked that Jesus was persuaded, during 
the latter portion of his ministry, that he was sent to be 
" The King of the Jews," and to preach a purer doctrine 
to the people than that which was taught through means 
of the Jewish priesthood. He was also surrounded by 
those who favored these ideas, and who were constantly 



BELIEF IN JESUS. 303 

urging his claims to such a position and to such an office. 
When they had succeeded in convincing themselves on 
this point, they were naturally desirous to bring others 
to the same conclusion. And there can be no doubt, but 
that he also caught the spirit, and lent his voice to the 
cry, "believe and be baptized!" This cry, from habit, 
and from the consciousness that the doctrine which he 
preached, led to life and happiness here and hereafter, 
was constantly in his mouth. In this way he was 
gradually led to associate himself with it. " Ye /believe in 
God," said he, "believe also in me." — John, xiv. 1. But 
that it was nothing more than the doctrine, which he pro- 
claimed as the way to eternal life and in which he soli- 
cited belief, we infer from the record of John the Evan- 
gelist, who speaks of him in these words ; " The same 
came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all 
men through him might believe." — John, i. 7. When 
this plain language is considered in connection with the 
fact, that he denied that he was God or co-equal with 
God, it fully warrants the view of his office and religious 
sentiments which is taken in this work. 

Now, the interpretation which the Churches put upon 
belief in Jesus, and the one here adopted, cannot be re- 
ceived together. So great is the difference between them, 
that they are totally inconsistent with each other. Jesus 
either meant that eternal life would result from belief in 
his doctrine of love to God, and good works, or he meant 
that belief in his being co-equal with God insured eternal 
life. If he meant that the latter must be added to a life 
of good works, it is inconceivable why he did not make 
such a declaration in plain and unmistakable terms, which 
he never did, at least there is no such record in the Bible. 
On the other hand, he did declare repeatedly and expli- 



304 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

citly, in the plainest words and in the most impressive 
manner possible, that the sum total of the requirements 
for the inheritance of eternal life is, love to the One God, 
love to man, and good works. Such a belief as this, 
when taken in the sense here advocated, shows "the 
Religion of Jesus" to coincide and harmonize with the 
religion of the heart, the conscience, and the common 
sense of all mankind. In short, it is in unison with the 
religion -of nature and of the God of nature, and shares 
this marked feature with the actuating principle that 
underlies the religion of every people on the face of the 
globe, however debased by the infusion of absurd dogmas 
and the practice of repulsive rites. 

The church mode of interpreting the words of Jesus 
makes our eternal happiness depend on our ability to 
believe certain obscure passages of the Bible, containing 
accounts of what one person says in relation to another ! 

If belief comes at all, it must, of necessity, be involun- 
tary. No man can have a real, honest faith, of the kind 
just mentioned, except through intuition, or upon evidence 
that is irresistibly convincing. Belief, therefore, not being 
a matter of free agency, there can be no merit in its 
adoption, whereas, on the contrary, good works, which a 
man may, or may not do, constitute the only acceptable 
mode of manifesting love to God. 

Man's moral accountability to God, for his conduct here 
can have reference only to those actions over which man 
himself has any control, that is to say, those which, by 
virtue of his free agency, he may do or leave undone 
at his own will and pleasure. Belief in Jesus as a 
God and a Redeemer, which the system of Christianity 
demands as indispensable to salvation, is not among the 
actions that man can control at will ; neither is it among 



JESUS AS A TEACHER. 305 

the convictions that come to us spontaneously, or by the 
inevitable consequences of nature's universal teaching. 
It is not like the assurance that there is an overruling 
Intelligence, to whose laws we are each and all account- 
able. Hence, the belief in question, if binding on us at 
all, must of necessity be founded upon evidence, the 
sufficiency or insufficiency of which it is in the capacity 
of the reasoning faculties to scan, weigh, and determine. 
Again: "He that believe th on the Son hath everlasting 
life ; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life : 
but the wrath of God abideth on him." — John, iii. 36. 
This suggests the inquiry, what does believing on the Son 
mean ? Is it that his teaching, or that believing on him, 
personally as the Son, leads to everlasting life ? If 
we may rely upon the explanation from Jesus' own 
mouth to believe in him, was to believe in his teach- 
ing, and his teaching is not his own, but God's. He 
said himself — John, vii. 16, — "My doctrine is not mine, 
but his that sent me." In his solitary prayer, also 
recorded by St. John in the 17th chapter of his Gospel, 
Jesus says, in the 6th verse: "I have manifested thy 
name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the 
world, and they have kept thy word;" in the 8th verse, 
" For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest 
me;" and again, in the 14th verse, "I have given them 
thy word." Thus it is clear, on his own testimony, that 
it was God's doctrine that Jesus taught. What, also, said 
Paul, narrating to Agrippa his own course, after his own 
conversion? "Whereupon, King Agrippa, I was not 
disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but shewed first 
unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and through- 
out all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that 
they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet 
20 



306 ONE RELIGION: MANY CEERDS. 

for repentance." This is Paul's view of the obligations 
of Christianity, in the way of teaching, even though the 
vision that set him to work was in the form of the Lord 
Jesus. Paul also, in the midst of Mars Hill, at Athens, 
proclaimed — Acts, xvii. 24, 27, 28, — the "unknown" 
God whom the Greeks ignorantly worshipped as "the 
God that made the world and all things therein." He 
added, furthermore, the remarkable declaration, that the 
Lord is not far from every one of us : " For in him we live, 
and move, and have our being ; as certain also of your 
poets have said, For we are also his offspring. " Herein 
we detect the recognition of that great first principle of 
all religion which is implanted in us by God himself, and 
a contradiction of the human dogma that consigns all men 
to perdition, outside of a chosen few of the elect. 

Just in proportion as a man teaches and practices the 
laws pertaining to his existence, in more or less purity, 
the more or less conspicuously does God appear in him. 
Now, if any preacher of the present day were to commence 
teaching the truths relating to man's well being here, 
and to his happiness hereafter, unencumbered with church 
dogmas, as were the teachings of Jesus, his hearers would 
know at once that his doctrine came from God. Their 
minds and consciences would both bear witness to it; 
and it would seem to those, who first heard it, like a 
miracle, because of its novelty. That a religious teacher 
of our day should inculcate love to God manifested by acts 
of kindness, one towards another, as the total requisite 
for man's highest enjoyment, would seem almost incred- 
ible. And yet, such was the teaching of Jesus, both by 
precept and example. It was his everyday vocation, pur- 
sued with untiring zeal, before he conceived the idea that 
he was the Messiah. No wonder Nicodemus expressed 



JESUS AS A TEACHER. 307 

himself as he did. He instantly recognized that the 
great celebrity which Jesus had obtained, grew out of the 
excellency and purity of the doctrines which he taught ; 
that he was admirably adapted to his mission of promul- 
gating and enforcing unadulterated truth ; and of so point- 
ing out the way that leads to eternal life, as to justify him 
in saying, " I am the way, the truth, and the life." 

But the religion, which Jesus associated with belief in 
himself, is more fully illustrated by his last charge to his 
disciples, when to push forward the good work which he 
had commenced, he sent them to teach all nations, to take 
his mantle upon them, to avail themselves of his renown 
as a teacher, to assume his office, and to hand down to all 
posterity the doctrines with which his name and fame 
were identified. He charged them to preach repentance, 
which is the turning point to a better course — that which 
works an aversion to sin, and which leads to a higher life. 
All this shows that be believed in himself as a teacher of 
God's laws in relation to man. His course and teaching 
evince that his genius lay particularly in that line, as was 
the case also with Zoroaster, Mohammed, Buddha, Con- 
fucius, and other celebrated founders of religious systems 
and expounders of morals. In him, as in the above men- 
tioned persons, that peculiar faculty was most extraordi- 
narily developed. He had a happy facility for laying bare 
divine truths, and disentangling them of the bewilderino- 
mazes into which designing men had woven them, for 
base purposes. 

Such we believe to have been the character of Jesus ; 
and we believe, also, that his endowments, like those of 
the persons cited above, although extraordinary, were 
natural and not supernatural. In virtue of such quali- 
ties, he became obnoxious to the grasping priesthood of 



308 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

the day, whom he never spared, and by whom he was 
relentlessly pursued, dragged before the tribunal, spe- 
ciously accused, and finally murdered. 

But, if Jesus conceived that belief in him signified that 
which his followers claimed for him, and that he was God 
as they claim, we cannot comprehend how it was that he 
did not make the subject so plain and unmistakable that 
all mankind would have had their duty placed squarely 
before them. Neither can we understand why their eter- 
nal doom, for not exercising such a belief in him, was not 
so emphatically taught them by natural intuition, or other 
evidence, that thev could not have misunderstood him. 
How far this is from the fact, is indicated by the number 
of sects into which Christianity is split. 

And yet those who profess to be his disciples teach, 
that if men do not blindly believe, just what they pro- 
pound foi them to believe, they are, for their contumacy, 
to be condemned to everlasting punishment, and this too, 
as before shown, in the face of an imperative law of 
nature, which makes either intuition, or other evidence, 
indispensable to belief. We persist that the individual 
mind of the person to whom belief, in anything, is pro- 
pounded, must be the final and sole arbiter. Therefore 
every real — not blind — belief, in relation to Jesus, is 
totally involuntary, and beyond man's control, and con- 
sequently, involves neither merit nor demerit. 

This holds good, also, in relation to those who have 
never had any such dogma presented to their minds ; and, 
is, therefore, not among the things for which God holds 
them accountable. No one can believe a proposition with- 
out convincing evidence of its truth, or withhold belief in 
the face of such evidence. Nor can any man comprehend 
how it is, that the simple fact of arriving at a state of 



NO GOOD RESULTS FROM THIS BELIEF. 309 

mind called belief in the divinity of Jesus, and his sacri- 
fice for sin, should entitle the believer to everlasting bliss, 
while, at the same time such belief offers no suggestion 
of, or stimulant to good works. 

Action is the order of nature. It is, therefore, not 
alone sufficient that man should have a proper conviction 
of his duty — he is required to act in accordance with it 
as well; but church doctrine says, " whosoever belie veth 
on me — meaning Jesus — shall inherit eternal life." And 
this is repeated, again and again, without addition, sub- 
traction, or qualification. 

On the isolated acceptance of this question of belief 
hangs everlasting bliss ; on the converse everlasting death, 
say the clergy. We hold that no state of the mind can 
receive countenance "from God which is not productive of 
an active life of good works. Jesus taught this, and it 
was the only, and the entire requisite which he made for 
the inheritance of eternal life. 

How can an impression or a conviction that there are 
two Gods, or three Gods, in place of one God, be of any 
effect in inciting men to the performance of what all 
recognize as duty — to the exercise, for instance, of charity, 
which St. Paul himself declares to be greater than faith 
or hope ? Is there any specific or magnified virtue in a 
subdivided Godhead ? Does it tend to clear up any of 
the mystery, in which the Supreme Being has, for the 
present, been pleased to enwrap himself from our know- 
ledge, or to enhance our ideas of his wisdom and power ; 
to be told that Divinity is triune ? Are the attributes of 
the Almighty more comprehensible or more striking, when 
they are parcelled out into three divisions ; the Father's 
portion being mainly wrath, the Son's portion being 
mainly mercy, and the Holy Ghost's business being 



310 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

mainly that of a medium ? We can understand why it 
was, in Pagan mythology, that Cerberus, the dog who 
kept the gates of hell, was represented with three heads. 
Thereby it might be supposed that his ability to bark and 
bite was tripled. But that entry through the gates of 
Heaven should also be guarded, as it were by a triplex 
ideal — that conveys through it feeea a sense of weakness, 
rather than of strength — seems to us a human device 
more strange and more unwarrantable. 
^Liet the theologians say that such belief is indispensa- 
ble to salvation, and that salvation is at once secured by 
it. This involves the idea that # a transcendant change- 
takes place in every new convert from a belief in one 
God to a belief in three Gods, from the moment of imbib- 
ing the new notion ; and this is the turning-point accord- 
ing to them, between everlasting bliss and perpetual tor- 
ment. Carrying out this view, they assume a position, 
which we deem inconsistent with the teaching of Jesus 
himself, who is claimed as the basis of their creed. It 
is that — however barren of good works a man's life and 
conduct may have. been, or however vicious he may have 
, been up to the last hour of his existence — at this latest 
moment a belief in Jesus being God and Redeemer acts 
as an infallible passport to Heaven. Now, this is tanta- 
mount to a belief, that entertaining a bare idea for a few 
moments suffices to ensure eternal happiness, in despite 
of a life of sin, while a life of well-doing, without the 
entertainment of this idea, is counted but as dross, and 
cannot save. We say, on the contrary, such promptings 
of the human heart, as are implanted by God, though 
still under man's free control, tend exclusively to train 
him to good works as between man and man. Shall then 
the merit of a virtuous and useful life be made to hinge 



NO GOOD RESULTS FROM THIS BELIEF. 311 

upon credence in a certain number of Gods ? Shall what 
is meritorious to-day, be damnable to-morrow and vice 
versa f It is indisputable, that individuals are constantly 
shifting, from one side of this question to the other, 
which involves, according to Christian theology, that the 
individual, so often as he may change, becomes instantly 
blessed or cursed, a saint or devil, a meet personage for 
Heaven or for Hell. And here it may be said in passing, 
that we agree with Jesus, who implies that Heaven and 
Hell are in men's consciences, and as applicable to this 
side of the grave as to the other. In Matthew, xii. 28, 
he says : " The Kingdom of God is come unto you ;" 
and in Luke, xvii. 21 — he speaks more strongly still : 
" Behold the Kingdom of God is within you." If this be 
so, and if the difference of the beliefs in question works 
the momentous difference that theologians maintain, it is 
past comprehension why it does not exhibit itself in a 
way not to be mistaken, between the conduct and condi- 
tion of those espousing the two sides respectively. Why 
is the visible state of the individual the same when he 
enjoys Heaven by virtue of belief in the Trinity, and 
when he is transferred thence to Hell as a consequence of 
his belief in the one God Jehovah only ? Again, if it be 
suggested that Jesus' mode of salvation, which is by good 
works, and the church's mode, which is by faith alone in 
Jesus, may be used in conjunction, we say that this 
betrays a suspicion that the church may be wrong, and 
consequently that both may be wrong. To make this 
appear more absurd, let us place them once more one 
against the other. Jesus claims that on his mode of 
salvation hangs all the law and the prophets, and that 
it is the only and all-sufficient one. The church claims 
that their mode of salvation is the only one given under 



312 ONE RELIGION: MANY CEEEDS. 

Heaven, whereby men may be saved, and that it is con- 
sequently all-sufficient. Now, two all-sufficient and only 
modes of salvation combined are superfluous and ridiculous. 

It has been observed by a writer, often quoted, and 
from whom much is borrowed in this instance, that 
Jesus sought in every way to establish as a principle that 
his Apostles were as himself. — Matthew, x. 40, 42 ; xxv. 
45; Mark, ix. 40; Luke, x.; John, xiii. 20. It was 
believed that he had communicated all the marvellous 
virtues to them, which he claimed to have been delegated 
to him. 

They prophesied and cast out demons, although certain 
cases were beyond their power. — Matthew, xvii. 18, 19. 
They also wrought cures, either by the imposition of 
hands, or by the anointing with oil. — Mark, vi. 13 ; 
James, v. 14 ; one of the fundamental processes of Orien- 
tal medicine. Lastly, like the Psylli of old, or like cer- 
tain Bengalese of our day, they could handle serpents ; 
and they could drink deadly potions with impunity. — 
Mark, xvi. 18 ; Luke, x. 19. But, whilst with the lapse 
of time all this pretence of supernatural power becomes 
more and more repugnant to our perceptions of truth, 
there is no doubt that it was generally received by the 
primitive Church, that it held an important place in the 
estimation of the world around, and that without it the 
Christian theology would never have existed. Charla- 
tans, as generally happens, took advantage of this move- 
ment of popular credulity. Even in the lifetime of Jesus, 
many, without being his disciples, cast out demons in his 
name. The true disciples were much displeased at this, 
and sought to prevent them. But Jesus, no doubt, saw 
that it was better policy not to interfere with them. — 
Mark, ix. 38, 39; Luke, ix. 49, 50. It must be observed, 



WORKING OF MIRACLES. 313 

moreover, that the exercise of these claimed gifts had 
to some degree become a trade. Carrying the logic of 
absurdity to the extreme, certain men pretended to cast 
out in the name of Beelzebub, the prince of demons. 

They assumed that this sovereign of the infernal regions 
must have entire authority over his subordinates, and that 
in acting through him they were more likely to make the 
intruding spirit depart. — Matthew, xii. 24, 28. Some 
even sought to buy from the disciples of Jesus the secret 
of the miraculous powers, which had been confided to 
them. — Acts, viii. 18, 19. This shows that there were 
those of that day, who esteemed these pretended miracles 
as but an ingenious trick, which might be performed by 
any one who was instructed in the mode and manner of 
effecting them. 

It was only after the death of Jesus, that particular 
Christian churches were established; and they were con- 
stituted purely and simply on the model of the synagogue. 
Nor did they draw within their folds all those who had 
been more or less intimately associated with Jesus in per- 
son. Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus, Mary Magdalen, 
and Nicodemus did not, it seems, become members of 
these churches, clinging in preference to the tender and 
respectful recollections which they had individually pre- 
served of him. 

It is to be observed, also, that there is no trace in the 
teaching of Jesus, of an apparent canonical law, ever so 
slightly defined by him. It may be assumed, on the 
contrary, that the idea of a newly written code and arti- 
cles of religious faith, could never have been entertained 
by him, for he deemed the true record to be inscribed on 
men's hearts and already transcribed into the moral com- 
mandments extant in the Jewish law. Not only did he 



314 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

not write ; but it would have been useless and adverse to 
the spirit of such an infant sect to get up any so-called 
sacred books, inasmuch as they believed themselves to be 
on the eve of the great final catastrophe. It cannot be 
too often repeated that, when Jesus speaks of his kingdom 
as not being of this world — John, xxviii. 36 — he means 
the world which was then, and is now inhabited by the 
human race, and that his world to come is the one 
described in 2 Peter, iii. 13 — in these words : "Never- 
theless, we, according to his promise, look for a new 
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteous- 
ness." The first Christian generation lived almost 
entirely upon delusive expectations and dreams. They 
conceived themselves on the eve of seeing the then world 
come to an end ; they looked for a new one, and they 
regarded as useless everything which only served to pro- 
long the then state of things upon that earth wherein they 
were living. Possession of property was interdicted. — 
Luke, xiv. 33 ; Acts, iv. 32, and v. 1, 11. Although sev- 
eral of these disciples were married, there was to be no 
more marriage, on becoming a member of the sect. — Mat- 
thew, xix. 10, and following. The celibate was greatly 
preferred ; even in marriage, continence was recommended. 
Revelation, xiv. 4. At one time the Master seems to 
approve of those who should mutilate themselves, in 
prospect of the coining kingdom. — Matthew, xix. 12. 
Cessation from generating one's kind was sometimes con- 
sidered as a sign and condition of fitness for the impend- 
ing change. — Matthew, xxii. 30 ; Luke, xxii. 35. The 
rule that Jesus sought to institute, was severe in the 
extreme. He required from his associates a complete 
detachment from the ordinary participation and interest 
in worldly matter, in absolute devotion to his work of 



JESUS' TEACHING IMPRACTICABLE. 315 

evangelizing the world. Jesus,* during the latter part of 
his lifetime, apparently believed that the impossible could 
be attempted with impunity. He made no concession to 
necessity. He boldly preached war against nature, and 
total severance from ties of blood. ''Verily I say unto 
vou " said he, "there is no man that hath left house or 
parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom 
of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in 
this present time, and in the world to come life everlast- 
ing." The Kingdom of God here spoken of, is the king- 
dom to be established upon earth ; and the world to come 
is like the present one, but in a regenerated state. His 
followers were not to carry with them either money or 
provisions for the way, not even a scrip or change of 
raiment. They must practice absolute poverty, living on 
alms and hospitality. The Father would send them his 
spirit from on high, which would become the principle of 
all their acts, the director of their thoughts, and their 
guide through the world. If driven from any town they 
were to shake the dust from their shoes, declaring always 
the proximity of the kingdom of God, that none might 
plead ignorance. "Ye shall not have gone over the cities 
of Israel," added he, " till the Son of man be come." 

In his severe view of the exigencies of religion, Jesus 
went so far as to abolish all natural ties. His require- 
ments had no longer any rational bounds. Despising the 
healthy limits of man's nature, he demanded that man 
should exist only for him, that man should love him alone. 
"If any man come to me," said he, "and hate not his 
father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, 
and sisters, and his own life also, he cannot be my dis- 
ciple." — Luke, xiv. 26; "So likewise, whoever he be of 



316 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my 
disciple." — Luke, xiv. 33. 

Such was the substance of the public teachings of 
Jesus, after he imbibed the visionary idea of his perpetual 
rule, either in the then world, or in the new world, which 
he predicted would speedily come. And all this was 
demanded by him, solely for the sake of establishing a 
belief that he was the Messiah predicted by the ancient 
prophets, to reign over the Jews perpetually upon the 
earth. The harsh and gloomy feelings of distaste for the 
world, and of excessive self-abnegation, which Jesus 
imposed upon himself and his followers in his later days, 
withdrew him more and more, out of the pale of humanity. 
It is certain that this idea of Jesus, if only on account of 
the celibacy and poverty it imposed, could not be carried 
out in practice. Common sense revolts at such extrava- 
gances ; to demand the impossible is a mark of weakness 
and delusion. 

We may easily imagine that to Jesus, at this period of 
his life, everything, which was not the kingdom of God, 
according to his idea of it, had absolutely disappeared. 
He was, if we may say so, totally outside of nature ; 
family, friendship, country, had no longer any meaning 
for him. " Think not," said he, M that I am come to send 
peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 
I am come to set man at variance against his father, and 
the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law 
against her mother-in-law. And a man's foe shall be 
they of his own household." — Matthew, x. 34, 36 ; Luke, 
xii. 51, 53. " I am come to send fire on the earth ; and 
what will I, if it be already kindled?" — Luke, xii. 49. — 
" They shall put you out of the synagogues," he continued, 



JESUS' TEACHING IMPRACTICABLE. 317 

"yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you, will 
think that he doeth God service." — John, xvi. 2. 

Sometimes one would have said that his reason was 
disturbed. He suffered great mental anguish and agita- 
tion. — John xii. 27. The great vision of the kingdom of 
God, which he fancied he was to establish, glistening 
before his eyes, bewildered him. His disciples at times, 
thought him mad; — Mark, iii. 21, and following. His 
enemies declared him to be possessed : — Mark, iii. 22 ; 
John, vii. 20 ; viii. 48. His excessively impassioned 
temperament carried him incessantly beyond all rational 
bounds. At this later period he disregarded all human 
systems ; and his work not addressing itself to the reason, 
that which he most imperiously required was an unques- 
tioning faith — faith in that which time and history have 
demonstrated to have been visionary; — Matthew, viii. 10; 
ix. 2, 22, 28, 29 ; xvii. 19 ; John, vi. 29, 4c. His pre- 
vious gentleness seemed to have abandoned him ; he was 
sometimes, harsh and capricious; — Matthew, xvii. 16; 
Mark, iii. 15, 18; Luke, viii. 45; ix. 41. His disciples 
at times, did not understand him, and experienced in his 
presence a feeling akin to fear. — Mark, iv. 40 ; v. 15 ; ix. 
31 ; x. 32. Sometimes his displeasure at the slightest 
opposition led him to commit acts as inexplicable and 
absurd as cursing a fig tree because it did not bear fruit 
out of season; — Mark, xi. 12, 14, 20. 

His struggle for the ideal against the real, became insup- 
portable. Contact with the world pained and revolted him. 
Obstacles irritated him. His ideas concerning himself, as 
the Son of God, became disturbed, inconsistent, and exag- 
gerated. The fatal law which condemns all impracticable 
ideas to decay, so soon as an attempt is made to put them 
into operation, applied to his. But even during the early 



318 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

part of the public ministry of Jesus, and while his mode 
and manner of portraying the doctrines enjoined on man 
by natural religion, was in many respects unsurpassed, 
there was in his teachings a want of consistency, an 
absence of that harmony which is conspicuous in all 
things which are unmistakably of God. For while Jesus — 
the God-Man, as the Church has it — failed to act perfectly 
his part as a man, he still more signally failed to duly 
represent God, who, according to Bible record says, " I 
am the Lord, I change not;" and of whom Balaam says, 
" God is not a man, that he should lie." The Scriptures 
do not bear out this claim to unchangeableness and infal- 
libility in relation to Jesus. Several phases of character, 
or functions were assumed at different times by Jesus, 
during the few years of his public ministry. Each of 
these offices or missions was totally inconsistent with the 
others, as we shall show. 

Jesus claimed in the first place, that his mission was 
to lead or point all men by his teaching, to everlasting 
happiness beyond the grave ; in the second place, he 
claimed to be the Messiah appointed by God to rule man- 
kind upon this earth, whereon all men were to live for- 
ever ; thirdly, he claimed to be destined to rule everlast- 
ingly, in person and in the flesh, over the whole human 
race, all of whom were to be righteous and happy, upon 
a new earth, to be substituted for the present one, which 
was to be destroyed by fire. Now Jesus' first claim, that 
his teaching pointed to everlasting happiness beyond the 
grave, is inconsistent with his second claim, which involved 
that no man, after the kingdom of God was established 
under him, was to die or pass the grave. His third 
assumption, which involved the destruction of our present 
earth, and a continued existence on this side of the grave, 



JESUS' CODE VISIONARY. 319 

is alike inconsistent with his first assumptions, inasmuch 
as teaching the way to happiness beyond the grave to a 
people, who were never to pass the grave, would be out 
of place ; and also, inasmuch as he could not possibly 
rule as the Messiah contemplated on this earth, since the 
earth was doomed to destruction. Now it is plain that 
any one of these positions being accepted as true, stamps 
the others as false. God cannot be false to Himself; he 
cannot be one manner of Being to-day and another to- 
morrow. As regards their fitness to the ordinary duties 
and relations of life and society, it may be noticed further 
that many of the doctrines of Jesus are irrational and 
altogether impracticable. 

God, according to Moses and the Church, tells us on the 
authority of Paul's Epistle to Timothy, that "all Scrip- 
ture is given by inspiration of God," and that, conse- 
quently, we must have faith in Moses' announcements. 
God, we say, put man into Paradise "to dress and keep " 
the garden of Eden ; and this, be it observed, before man 
had been doomed to labor in the sweat of his brow. But 
Jesus, after this so-called curse had been affixed upon 
humanity, inculcated a manner of living entirely at vari- 
ance with its existence. Men were to take no thought — 
not undue thought, but no thought whatever — as to their 
means of subsistence. If smitten on one cheek, they 
were to turn the other cheek to the smiter. If robbed of 
their coats, they were to give up their cloaks also. Never 
gaining or acquiring, they were to give and lend without 
stint. They were not to pay even funeral rites to the 
dead, in the urgency of their haste to follow after Jesus. 
They were, for the same end, to give up their natural 
affections toward father, mother, wife, and child, im- 
planted in man from the first, and shared in part by the 



320 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

very beasts of the field. As to occupations, livelihood, 
trade, industry, art, science, learning, the embellishments 
of life, and the duties of man as a citizen — all these mat- 
ters are entirely ignored, or are dismissed contemptuously 
as not worth thought or care. 

How full of misery the world would have become, if 
these injunctions had been obeyed, how starving and 
utterly forlorn, it is needless to point out. But, without 
dwelling upon the visionary tendencies of Jesus' code in 
general, it cannot be inappropriate to remark how slightly 
in these respects it has bound his followers. The name of 
Jesus is forever in their mouths ; but they have wandered, 
it must be owned, very far from his teachings. If he 
varied thrice in his own promulgated views as to his mis- 
sion and purposes, they by way of a fourth variation have 
saddled him with the dogma of spiritual salvation through 
sacrifice of himself. If he preached poverty and self- 
abnegation, their church has sought power and accumu- 
lated wealth, while they as individuals have entered with 
full ardor and much success upon the multifarious pursuits 
of man. 

Having thus shown, as we conceive, that Jesus — whom 
the Church adores as perfect God and perfect Man — was 
neither a worthy representative of God's majestic attri- 
butes, nor a fitting type of man under the various rela- 
tions of life and under the nature which God has stamped 
upon him, we ask what the conclusion must be. Who 
shall say that God's representation of Himself through- 
out the entire universe, and his impress upon broad 
humanity, are not the true ones under which to live and 
die? 

It is probable that the reported raising of Lazarus from 
death contributed sensibly to hasten the death of Jesus, as 



THE ARREST OF JESUS. 321 

is shown in the latter part of the 11th chapter of John's 
Gospel. The disciples related the fact, with details as to 
its performance, prepared in expectation of controversy. 
The other miracles of Jesus were transitory acts, spon- 
taneously accepted by faith, and exaggerated by popular 
fame, and were not often referred to after they had once 
taken place. This raising of Lazarus was an event held 
to be publicly notorious, and by which it was hoped to 
silence the Pharisees. The enemies of Jesus were much 
irritated at all this fame ; and, therefore, a council of the 
chief priests was assembled, and in that council the ques- 
tion was clearly put: "Can Jesus and Judaism exist 
together?" To raise the question was to resolve it; the 
high priest could easily pronounce his cruel axiom: "It is 
expedient that one man should die for the people." The 
priests saw, in the excitement created by Jesus, the prob- 
able overturning of the Temple, the source of their riches 
and honors. — John, xi. 48. In a general sense, Jesus, if 
he had succeeded in all he proposed, would have really 
effected the ruin of the Jewish nation. Hence the men 
of order, persuaded that it was essential for humanity that 
the existing belief should not be disturbed, felt themselves 
bound to prevent the new spirit from extending itself. 
But never was seen a more striking example of how much 
such a course of procedure defeats its own object. Left 
free, Jesus would have exhausted himself in a desperate 
struggle with the impossible. The unintelligent hate of 
his enemies, resulting in his persecution and death, con- 
tributed to, or was in reality an incident without which 
he never would have obtained the notoriety that has 
pertained in relation to him. The death of Jesus being 
resolved upon, — Matt., xxvi. 15 : Mark, xvi. 1, 2: Luke, 
xxii, 1, 2,— to escape from arrest, he withdrew to an 
21 



322 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

obscure town called Ephraim, or Ephron, in the direction 
of Bethel, a short day's journey from Jerusalem. — John, 
xi. 54. It seems that about this time the apprehensions 
of Jesus that his life was in jeopardy took hold of his dis- 
ciples. All felt that a very serious danger threatened the 
Master, and that they were approaching a crisis. At one 
time Jesus thought of precautions, and spoke of swords. 
There were two in the company. "It is enough," said 
he. — Luke, xxii. 36, 38. He did not, however, follow 
out this idea, seeing clearly that timid provincials would 
not stand before the armed force of the great powers of 
Jerusalem. There was, however, some show of resistance 
on the part of the disciples on the occasion of the arrest 
of Jesus. One of them — Peter, according to an eye wit- 
ness : John, xviii. 10, — drew his sword and cut off the ear 
of one of the servants of the high priest, named Malchus. 
Jesus restrained this opposition, seeing the impossibility 
of effectual resistance, especially against authorities who 
had so much prestige ; and he was accordingly captured. 
It thus appears that instead of Jesus having volunteered 
to become a sacrifice for sin, according to the Christian 
theology, he avoided being arrested and crucified to the 
extent of his ability. Jesus' seeming anticipations of his 
violent death, whether by crucifixion or otherwise, may 
well have been the result of his having laid claim to the- 
Messiahship, and not the result of any supernatural fore- 
knowledge, or of any voluntary offering of himself as a 
ransom for the sins of the world. He was aware, from 
current events, that whoever set up a claim to the Mes- 
siahship put his life in jeopardy ; and, being an enthu- 
siast in common with others of his time, he did not hesi- 
tate so to risk it. Thus he might naturally predict that 
it would be the forfeit of his course ; and this is the more 



HIS CRUCIFIXION. 323 

likely, inasmuch as John was put to death by Herod for 
having, as is vaguely suggested by Josephus, entered into 
the politics of the times. This view is further corrobo- 
rated by the frequent allusions of the Evangelists to 
Jesus' reasons for moving from place to place. Occasion- 
ally the cause assigned is a trivial one, such as the incon- 
venient pressure of the multitude upon him. Sometimes, 
also, the movement is recorded as a simple matter of fact. 
But — until longer escape was impossible — the mention 
of any danger immediately threatening the life or liberty 
of Jesus was surely followed by a prudent retreat. John 
the Baptist was beheaded ; " when Jesus heard of it he 
departed thence by ship into a desert place apart." — Mat- 
thew, xiv. 13. The priests plotted against him; "after 
these things Jesus walked in Galilee ; for he would not 
walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him." — 
John, vii. 1. They took up stones to cast at him; "but 
Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going 
through the midst of them, and so passed by." — John, 
vii. 59. "They sought again to take him," says St, 
John in his 10th chapter, verse 39 ; and he adds, "but 
he escaped out of their hands." 

Now, although we are told by the Church, and anathe- 
matized if we don't believe it, that Jesus volunteered to 
die upon the cross, we must repeat that the Bible record 
proves precisely the reverse. If his zeal sustained and 
bore him onwards until drawn within the fatal circle of 
events, at least he evaded the penalty so far, and as often 
as he could ; while, even in the closing scene, it is diffi- 
cult to find any marks of superhuman power. Had it 
been possible — we speak on his own authority, as handed 
down to us by his living followers — he would have had 
the last agony spared him. In immediate anticipation of 



324 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

a cruel death, he prayed with more resignation than cour- 
age, Abba Father, all things are possible unto thee ; take 
away this cup from me : nevertheless, not what I will, 
but what thou wilt. — Mark, xiv. 36. On the cross he 
uttered the words — inexplicable if we put faith in the 
Christian theology: "My God, my God, why hast thou 
forsaken me?" — Mark, xv. 34. It is strange, but not the 
less true, that many martyrs to the faith of Jesus have 
shown a holier faith, and a more enduring resolution, than 
were exhibited by their Master, the Man-God himself. 
And as there was nothing supremely heroic, assuredly 
nothing divine, in the spirit in which Jesus encountered 
death, nor anything uncommon in its manner, crucifixion 
being an ordinary capital punishment in those days, so was 
there nothing unique or mysterious in its apparent cause. 

The course which the priests had resolved to take 
against Jesus was quite in conformity with their own 
established laws. The plan of the enemies of Jesus was 
to convict him by the testimony of witnesses who had 
been suborned, and by his own avowals, of blasphemy, 
and of outrage against the Mosaic religion, to condemn 
him to death according to law, and then to get the con- 
demnation sanctioned by Pilate, 

On the trial of Jesus, the fatal sentence which he had 
really uttered : "I am able to destroy the temple of God 
and to build it in three days," was cited by two wit- 
nesses. To blaspheme the temple of God was, according 
to the Jewish law, to blaspheme God Himself. The 
sentence was predetermined, and they only sought for 
pretexts. Jesus felt this, and did not undertake a useless 
defence. In the light of orthodox Judaism, he was truly 
a blasphemer, a destroyer of the established worship ; and 
the law punished such a criminal with death. With one 



JESUS' CHARACTER. 325 

voice, therefore, the assembly declared him guilty of a 
capital crime ; and Pilate's ratification of the condemna- 
tion pronounced by the Sanhedrim was obtained, but not 
without some reluctance on his part. In his eyes, it is 
tolerably evident, Jesus was an inoffensive dreamer. But 
he no doubt feared that too much indulgence shown to a 
prisoner, to whom was given the title of the "King of 
the Jews," and who claimed to be the Messiah, might 
compromise him. He could scarcely have acted otherwise 
than he did. It was then neither Tiberius nor Pilate 
that condemned Jesus. It was the old Jewish party. It 
was the Mosaic Law. Now, it is beyond question that 
Jesus attacked this worship and aspired to destroy it. 
The Jews expressed this to Pilate with a truthful sim- 
plicity : " We have a law, and by our law he ought to 
ie. 
The fate of Jesus was, therefore, the natural fate of a 
religious reformer, in a cruel age, and among a fanatical 
people. And it made a very slight, a scarcely perceptible 
sensation. In this it resembled his life. The life of 
Jesus was passed entirely in the restricted world in which 
he was born. During his life he was never heard of in 
Greek or Homan countries. His name appears only in 
profane authors of a hundred years later, and then only 
in an indirect manner, as in Tacitus and Josephus, in con- 
nection with seditious movements provoked by his doc- 
trine, or persecutions of which his disciples were the 
object. The essential work of Jesus was to create around 
him a circle of disciples whom he inspired with boundless 
affection. His doctrine was so little dogmatic, that he 
never thought of writing it or of causing it to be written. 
Men did not become his disciples, by believing this thing 
or that thing, but in being attached to his person and in 



326 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

loving him. A few sentences collected from memory and 
especially the type of character he set forth, and the 
impression he had left, were what remained of him. 
Jesus was not a founder of dogmas, or a maker of creeds. 
His power over the hearts of men consisted in his preach- 
ing the religion of the heart and conscience, to which 
Church theologies and dogmas have since been added and 
placed in the foreground, while Jesus crucified is the 
burden of pulpit oratory, to the exclusion of God. 

If any one thing is conclusively established in the 
New Testament, it is that Jesus and his disciples were 
possessed with the idea of a coming Kingdom of God, 
changing the whole aspect of the world and its affairs. 
Their ideas, even Jesus' own ideas, as to what this King- 
dom was to be and when it was to come, varied con- 
siderably at various periods ; but it was ever present to 
his mind and theirs in some shape, and its proclamation 
was reiterated over and over again. The Evangelists 
record how Jesus announced it with a fullness of detail, 
and a splendor of phrase, that captivates all that is imagi- 
native in human nature. There is to be an abomination 
of desolation ; and the sun is to be darkened, and the 
moon is to give her light no longer, and the stars are to 
fall from heaven ; and the Son of Man is to come seated 
on the clouds, and surrounded by angels, with power and 
great glory, and the Elect are to be gathered together at 
the sound of a trumpet ; and the King is to pass judgment 
on a multitudinous assemblage from every corner of the 
earth, calling the righteous into many mansions standing 
ready for them, and casting the wicked out into everlast- 
ing fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The 
Apostles continue to foretell this coming of the Kingdom ; 
but,, warned by the failure of their Master's prediction as 



THE PROPHECIES IN REVELATIONS. 327 

to the time of its coming, are more reticent as to particu- 
lars, and less distinct in limiting the advent to the life- 
time of any person or persons. In saying, however, that 
the Apostles, so far as we know, were neither expansive 
nor precise in dealing with this theme, we naturally 
except St. John. He indeed, in his magnificent rhapsody 
that bears the august name of "Revelation," may be 
said to make amends for their short-coming. He is 
strangely precise, especially in naming three years and a 
half for the duration of the world as it was, in his curious 
arithmetical calculation of the one hundred and forty-four 
thousand chosen ones of the house of Israel, and in his 
sealing up Satan in the bottomless pit for an exact period 
of one thousand years — as though the Almighty took 
pleasure in round numbers, and as though damnation 
through all eternity was not a prominent feature in the 
perverted creed that grew out of Jesus' doctrines. On 
the other hand, how lofty are his imaginings ! How 
marvellous a compound of the grand and the terrific ! 
How they pass in bewildering, yet fascinating, succession 
before us — the seven mystic candlesticks, and the sea of 
glass, and the beasts full of eyes before and behind, and 
the golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the 
Saints, and Death on the pale horse, and the locusts like 
unto horses prepared for battle, with the hair of women 
and the faces of men and the tails of scorpions, and the 
great red dragon, and the angels pouring out the vials of 
God's distilled wrath, and the great city with its wails of 
jasper and gates of pearls and foundations of sapphire, 
chrysolite, topaz, and all kinds of jewels ! A magnificent 
and fantastic poem is all this, we may well allow ; but, if 
asked what connection it has with the practical teaching 
of Jesus, who condensed religion into two short and 



328 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

simple dogmas, which it is needless to repeat here, we 
should be compelled to turn to the clergy for an answer. 
They would tell us, probably, that "all Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" 
and would bemoan our inability to perceive the force of 
this remark from the pen of a man who is placed by 
theologians in the position of a writer reviewing his own 
works. They might point out, furthermore, how the 
scholarship and research of learned commentators had 
proved that certain parts of the apocalyptic vision eluci- 
dated and tallied with certain parts of the prophetic 
visions abounding in the Old Testament. But we confess 
that our doubts as to the divine inspiration or intrinsic 
worth of this Revelation would not hereby be greatly 
diminished, while doubts would be suggested as to studied 
effort, on the part of St. John to make the old and new 
correspond. 

It is to be observed, also, that not only were Jesus and 
his immediate followers mistaken as to the manner in 
which, and the exact time at which, this promised King- 
dom was to come — it has never come at all, though it is 
confidently declared from pulpit to pulpit that not one jot 
or tittle of Scripture can fail. If, therefore, they were 
all mistaken on this point, is it not equally clear that 
theologians must be mistaken in declaring Jesus to be 
the Messiah ? This precludes the idea of his being the 
Saviour. Jesus lived upon earth ; so much we know. 
But he certainly never sat upon the throne of David ; 
neither did he burn up the world and hold its gathered 
inhabitants to judgment. 

The truth is, this breaking down, this crumbling away, 
of the Kingdom of God as promised, drives us back to a 



THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THE SOUL. 329 

point, to which we have already adverted — in effect, to 
the Kingdom of God which exists within every human 
soul. And it was to this, in our belief, that Jesus occa- 
sionally referred in his earlier discourses, before his sense 
of man's need of spiritual affinity with his Maker had 
been disturbed and then thrown into the back-ground, by 
his enlarged and yet erroneous ideas concerning his own 
proper mission — concerning his temporal rule in the first 
place, and subsequently his new heaven and new earth. 
This, at least, may be said : it is as true for us as for 
Jesus' actual hearers, that this inner Kingdom is already 
established within us, nay, is part of our very nature, 
though we may fail to comprehend it. It is for us to 
look to it, that neither tradition, nor superstition, nor an 
indolent assent to prevailing dogmas, clogs our under- 
standing in this matter. It is for us to determine how 
soon we shall free ourselves from all that is irrational, 
and obscure, and fluctuating and contradictory in theology. 
It is easy for us at any moment and without aid of priest, 
or temple, or code, or teaching, to recognize as all sufficient 
that first and only true religion, which was implanted in 
man before any creeds were concocted, and will survive 
in him as, one after another, their false claims to divine 
origin are exposed. 

Jesus said unto his disciples, "It is not ye that speak, 
but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." — 
Matthew, x. 20. 

" The words I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: 
but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the work." — 
John, xiv. 10. 

" For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father 
which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I 
should say and what I should speak." — John, xii. 49. 



330 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

These quotations furnish direct evidence that Jesus 
places himself precisely on the same footing with his dis- 
ciples, with regard to God being both their, and his 
Father ; consequently, Jesus and his disciples were alike 
the sons of God. And when he says that both he and 
the disciples speak not of themselves, but are only the 
mouth-piece and instruments of God, to speak His mind, 
it follows likewise, that Jesus and the disciples stand in 
the same relation to God, with regard to those traits and 
functions of character and office, that distinguish each in 
common, and in which they were all engaged. This will 
be seen to be the case more especially from the following- 
texts which describe them to be all alike equally endowed 
by God to work miracles. 

Jesus said unto his disciples, "And these signs shall 
follow them- that believe ; in my name shall they cast out 
devils; they shall speak with new tongues.' ' "They 
shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on 
the sick, and they shall recover." — Mark, xvi. 17, 18. 
If in answer to this it is objected that the difference 
between ability of Jesus, and that of his disciples, to 
heal the sick, and work miracles, is that Jesus and not 
God, gave power to the latter, the objection is answered 
by Jesus himself, in the following terms: "The words I 
speak unto you, I speak not of myself but the Father 
that dwelleth in me, he doeth the work." — John, xiv. 10. 

And in his own case, does he not acknowledge, by 
thankfulness, that it was his Father, and not himself, 
who raised Lazarus from the dead. "And Jesus lifted 
up his eyes and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast 
heard me" — John, xi. 41 — which shows that the miracle, 
if miracle it was, was worked by God, and not by Jesus. 



THE APOSTLES EQUAL TO JESUS. 331 

And did not Martha, one of those who knew him best, 
and whom he is said to have loved above ail others, 
both understand, and express her understanding of the 
matter, by saying that she knew, that whatsoever he 
were to ask of God, God would give it to him.— John, 
xi. 22. And does not Jesus' silence on the occasion, 
prove equivalent to giving assent to her ideas on the 
subject? The miracle, therefore, if wrought at all, was 
wrought by God, the Father, in answer to the prayer of 
Jesus, and not by Jesus himself, in his own strength. 
This much we grant for the strength of the argument 
against the divinity of Jesus. The presumption is, how- 
ever, that no such miracle was ever wrought; but that 
the whole exhibition was gotten up to strengthen belief 
in Jesus, for the sake of furthering his interests in relation 
to his occupying the temporal throne of the Jews. 

But again we have shown that the Apostles were equal 
to Jesus, in all the qualities above enumerated, and 
equality with God was never claimed for them, how is it 
then, that these traits in the character of Jesus are cited 
as proofs of him being co-equal with God the Father? 
If the answer is, that Jesus on his own, and also on the 
authority of the prophets, claims himself to have been 
God, have we not shewn also that such a view as this 
has been falsified by Jesus himself, where he in various 
places denies such a claim, either directly or by fair impli- 
cation. And as to the authority of the Prophets on this 
subject, is not that set aside by their palpable errors, in 
connecting Jesus with the expected Messiah, who was to 
be the temporal ruler, or king of the Jews, which he 
never was? Jesus neither claimed nor answered to the 
description given, of the expected Messiah, in the sense 
put upon it by the Church. Nor could he have been, 



332 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

unless he was co-equal with God, which he disclaims to 
have been again and again. And if he had claimed to 
be co-equal with God, he says himself, "If I bear wit- 
ness of myself, my witness is not true." — John, v. 31. 

Peter declares ; " Neither is there salvation in any 
other for there is none other name under heaven given 
among men, whereby we must be saved." — Acts, iv. 12. 

But is Peter a competent witness? As regards his 
veracity and good character, does he stand sufficiently 
fair before men to be accredited ? Is his testimony of 
much weight, under these, or any other circumstances? 
Peter made a false assertion, and at three different times 
repeated it. He thrice denied that he had any know- 
ledge of Jesus, and more than once, on his oath. His 
conduct was also highly censurable and dishonest in the 
transaction wherein he procured, (or speciously lent him- 
self to the procuring,) of very unreasonable sums of money 
from his converts, by exciting in them the fear of instant 
death, for their non-compliance with his most exorbitant 
demands for the support of himself and his associates. 
(See an account of his conduct in this respect, in another 
part of this work.) 

Why, the unjustifiable doings of Peter so incensed even 
Jesus himself, that he was constrained to administer to 
him a rebuke, which for its severity, exceeds anything 
that Jesus ever uttered to him, or any other of his dis- 
ciples. "But he turned and said unto Peter, Get thee 
behind me Satan ; thou art an offence unto me ; for thou 
savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be 
of men." — Matthew, xvi. 23. 

Now, in view of such offences as these, are we to be 
asked to admit his testimony, either in this, or any other 
case ? If he would lie, and cheat, and perjure himself, 



GOD THE ONLY SAVIOUR. 333 

would he hesitate to do all in his power to advance his 
own interests by trying to persuade others to believe what 
he did not believe himself? We should say, he would 
not. He may, however, and probably did, have reference 
to Jesus being the only Saviour of the Jews from physical 
bondage, by becoming their King. If he did, his tes- 
timony is more reasonable, and therefore more credible; 
although he was mistaken. This is not the view which 
Christian theologians take of it. They make it to mean 
salvation from everlasting torment beyond the grave, for 
original and actual sin. Peter's probable view of the 
subject, untrue as it was, is more excusable than that of 
the theologians, and especially when such texts as the 
following are taken into consideration: "For I am the 
Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: 
I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for 
thee." — Isaiah, xliii. 3. "I, even I, am the Lord; and 
beside me there is no Saviour." — Isaiah, xliii. 2. "Tell 
ye and bring them near ; yea, let them take counsel 
together; who hath declared this from ancient time? 
who hath told it from that time ? have not I the Lord ? 
and there is no God else beside me, a just God and a 
Saviour] there is none beside me." — Isaiah, xlv. 21. 
"Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt 
suck the breasts of kings ; and thou shalt know that I 
the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty 
One of Jacob." — Isaiah, lx. 16. "For therefore, we both 
labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living 
God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those 
that believe." — 1 Timothy, iv. 10. 

Can any one attempt, seriously, to maintain the infalli- 
bility of the Bible, and the divinity of Jesus with such 
unmistakable and glaring contradictions as these before 



334 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

his eyes? And these are but the thousandth part of 
similar contradictions, some not quite perceivable at first 
glance, but equally apparent and positive, on a critical 
examination. 

All men, by internal and external evidence, combined 
and coming immediately from God, are brought to the 
conviction that there is an over-ruling Intelligence — an 
infinite Mind — which is the author and governor of all 
things and beings, including man. Man only, however, 
it is believed, has an innate sense of right and wrong, 
aqd of his accountability to God for the proper discharge 
of his duty. This law of his being is, we say, universal. 
But, if we go further and say that religion takes in any 
other object of faith than the one supreme and good God, 
we are at fault. No such innate or external evidence is 
furnished to the entire race of men immediately from 
God, with regard to the so-called supernatural faculties or 
functions of Jesus. Nor have we any such grounds for 
believing that he was other than man. God alone — the 
one God — has the sole power to control all things, and is 
the only giver of all good things. God alone, therefore, 
is, and should be, the only object of man's worship. His 
bounties come to man directly, as they do to the lower 
animals, and not by mediation. But whether or not these 
bounties come through one mode or another, this in no 
way affects man's obligations, nor the worship due from 
man to God. Neither does multiplying the objects of his 
worship increase man's disposition to manifest grateful 
emotions, or to perform good works. And this, for the all 
sufficient reason that no man, not excepting those who 
profess to understand it best — the church dignitaries — 
can comprehend such an anomaly, as that Jesus can be 
co-equal with God. Is not God infinite ; and does He not 



WORSHIP OF JESUS. 335 

fill the Universe? What room or occasion, then, can 
there be for another infinite Being ? 

There is no end to the mystery which the doctrine of 
the Trinity involves. It adds mystery to mystery. 
There is one thing, however, in relation to God which is 
indispensable to man's welfare; and that is, that he 
should perceive what his duty is, both to God and man. 
This, God has made sure that all men shall know, at all 
events to the extent of their needs, by implanting within 
their very nature the seeds which must, sooner or later, 
germinate, and bring forth their legitimate fruits, under 
the influences which God has spread around them. It 
would be infinitely better, in our estimation, if man would 
attend to the manifest instructions of the Almighty, 
instead of running after false gods — as do those who direct 
their worship almost exclusively to Jesus. But, admit- 
ing that Jesus was sent by God in the capacity claimed 
by his worshippers, why should religious teachers have 
Jesus on their lips continually, instead of directing their 
attention to the Fountain of all that is good and great, 
who is entitled, above all others to man's most profound 
devotion ? If, also — as is unceasingly preached — God did 
so love the world as to send his only begotton Son to die 
here for our sins, why is it that he who was sent is so 
perse veringly pressed upon the attention in preference to 
Him who sent? Is the messenger more worthy than the 
Lord, through whose loving-kindness the messenger was 
despatched ? 

But the solution is easy. The .sensibilities of the 
tender-hearted and unsuspecting are readily worked up to 
a high tension, by over-wrought and over-drawn pictures 
of the death-scene of Jesus. This is a powerful lever in 
the hands of the clergy, wherewith to increase the num- 



336 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

ber of their disciples, and, incidentally, their own emolu- 
ments. For the same reason, "the blessed Virgin," and 
the infant Jesus are much dwelt upon, to touch the sym- 
pathies of parents, and mothers, and women generally, 
whose natural affections yearn toward children. God has 
so constituted us, that our sympathetic organs and corres- 
ponding kindliness are peculiarly alive in behalf of a 
mother and her helpless offspring. And so, even this 
precious trait in human nature is seized upon by design- 
ing priests, and wrought into the means for the acquisi- 
tion of wealth. If it be not so, why do they not. direct, 
in their church services, glorification and adoration to 
Jehovah, the Father and instigator of all good emotions 
and deeds ? The Scriptures tell us, that God, the Father, 
is the giver of all good gifts, and that He is the fountain 
from whence all our blessings flow. He, therefore, should 
be the object of our constant praise and adoration; nor is 
there any lack of material, wherewith to portray God the 
Father, in a most beautiful and attractive aspect, without 
resorting to fictions. The most insignificant part of the 
sober truth that pertains to God's excellence, rightly 
arranged and brought to view, would present Him in a 
light so glowing, that the spiritual eye could scarcely 
withstand its brightness. And if this be so, why attempt 
to divert the heart's devotion, and the soul's adoration, 
from the source of all that is good and great, by resorting 
to false pretences ? If the church has a single eye to the 
glory of God, and the good of men's souls, why does it 
not teach them to worship God rationally and consist- 
ently ? If it should be said, however, that there certainly 
is great benefit to be derived from leading persons to put 
their faith in religious creeds, even at the expense of an 
exaggeration or perversion of the truth, the further ques- 



CEREMONIES. 337 

tion then presents itself, as to whether the theologies in 
which the clergy solicit belief are of themselves true? 
One denomination makes eternal life conditional on the 
ceremony of baptism, and gives the authority of Jesus, if 
not his command, for this requirement. Another declares 
with equal confidence that he (Jesus) repudiates all cere- 
monies, as not being of the essence, or an indispensable 
part of religion. Baptism may be useful in its way — 
being performed before witnesses, it stimulates the weak 
to perseverance in their resolves, and assists them to hold 
on to their profession with more tenacity than they other- 
wise might do. Any other act performed before men, 
with equal solemnity, would answer the same purpose. 
Water, it is true, is a fitting emblem of purity, but the 
efficacy, if any there be in baptism, consists, not in the 
virtue of water being connected with the outward acts ; 
the charm or spell which accompanies it, is the fear 
of men's remarks in case of backsliding. The effect is 
analogous to that of the laying on of hands when a tem- 
perance pledge is given. Baptism was coupled with belief 
in Jesus; and was so perseveringly persisted in by the 
first Apostles and their immediate followers, to prevent 
the backsliding of any who should subscribe to the pre- 
tensions of Jesus to the Messiahship. Incidentally, also, 
it swelled the number of his followers, and thus might 
Drove the way to his being publicly proclaimed " King of 
the Jews," and to their enjoyment of the worldly honors, 
power, and emoluments connected with his ascent of the 
throne. And so with all church forms and ceremonials, 
that have at different times been practiced. They are 
not of the slighest utility, so far as the right appreciation 
and practice of virtue is concerned — though it may be 
that ceremonies, enacted before men's eyes, make churches 



338 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

more attractive, and draw larger and more imposing con- 
gregations, serving at once to increase the power and 
influence of the church, and at the same time to fill its 
coffers. 

If the Church's theory is right with regard to God's 
mode of salvation, no man can possibly comprehend God's 
justice therein, otherwise than by His placing it within 
the range of each and every man's free-will to believe or 
not to believe, that Jesus, the son of Mary, is co-equal 
with God and the only Saviour of mankind, which it is 
absurd to say he has done. For if this church doctrine 
be the proper view of the subject, God's manifest and 
overwhelming goodness, demands such clear and unmis- 
takable evidence on the side of truth, as to make it pal- 
pable to all men, that each and all of them could believe, 
if they would ; and that to neglect or omit to believe, 
from any cause whatsoever, would entail upon them His 
eternal displeasure and vengeance. It is evident to all 
that such is not the case, but that the reverse of this is 
the fact; because the most overwhelming majority of 
mankind never heard of Jesus at all. We are aware that 
the objection or quibble which is put forward in reply to 
this unanswerable argument is, that those who have not 
heard of salvation through Jesus, will be judged according 
to the light they have. But the light which all men 
have, we insist again, is the religion here advocated ; and 
this is all-sufficient without church theologies, forms, or 
sacrifices. Nothing but love to God, and kind acts to 
His creatures, is required of any man as a condition of 
salvation. 

Jesus says, that " from the days of John the Baptist 
until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and 
the violent take it by force." — Matthew, xi. 12; or as it 



JESUS' TEACHING NOT UNIFORM. 339 

is in Luke, xvi. 16 — "since that time the kingdom of 
God is preached, and every man presseth into it." Then 
in answer to the accusation of the Pharisees, that he 
drives out devils by Beelzebub, he points out that he does 
it, on the contrary, by the spirit of God, and therefore 
that the kingdom of heaven is already among them. — 
Matthew, xii. 28. He says, also — John, xii. 31, "Now 
is the judgment of this world ;" and — Luke, x. 9 — " The 
kingdom of God is come nigh unto you ;" and Mark says, 
i. 14, 15, w Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel 
of the kingdom of God, saying, the time is fulfilled and 
the kingdom of God is at hand." To the question, again, 
of the Pharisees, as to when the kingdom of God shall 
come, he makes answer that it does not come in an exter- 
nal perceptible manner, but it is w T ithin them, or already 
among them. — Luke, xvii. 20, 21. In these passages 
the kingdom of God, or heaven, is represented as that 
which is already here present, and has been founded and 
opened by Jesus during his life on earth, being within 
and about them to whom he was speaking. Now the 
Churches say that no man can enter the kingdom of God, 
until he shall have faith that Jesus voluntarily gave up 
his life, and shed his blood, for the remission of original 
sin. But, up to the time of Jesus' speaking, no such 
occurrence as the shedding of his blood had taken place ; 
no such faith or belief had been presented to any one for 
acceptance. These wide discrepancies between the foun- 
der and the Church that was built up must, with every 
reasoning mind, overthrow any faith in Christian the- 
ology. 

But, it is not the Church alone, that differs with Jesus. 
He differs with himself, and his disciples differ with him. 
We have just seen how he represents those around him as 



340 ONE RELIGION: MANY CREEDS. 

having the kingdom of God in and about them, in other 
words, that God's perfect government was then in opera- 
tion upon earth. That is, in all conscience, sufficiently 
definite and explicit, and treats the kingdom, which he 
looked for, as a fact accomplished. But how does it tally 
with Jesus' subsequent postponing the kingdom — with his 
confession, as it were, that after all, it had not absolutely 
made its appearance? It is in the 12th chapter of John, 
that Jesus is made to say, " now is the judgment of this 
world : now shall the prince of this world (Satan) be cast 
out;" it is in the 14th that he says, "the prince of this 
world cometh, and hath nothing in me;" and in the 16th, 
"yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will 
think that he doeth God service." This swaying to and 
fro, this uncertainty as to time and the sequence of events, 
this attainment and this passing away, this vague advent 
of good and of evil, the predictions at once minute in 
some particulars and shadowy in others, this jumble of 
the past, the present, and the future — all tend to confuse 
the enquiring mind, and to leave the diligent reader of 
the New Testament floundering in a strange quagmire of 
triumphs and tribulations. The Church, indeed, professes 
to see its way clear, through all difficulties, interpreting 
one obscure passage literally, and another metaphorically, 
and another spiritually, and another locally, and another 
historically. You can never find it at fault, for want of 
explanation or excuse. But the light that it throws upon 
the matter is little better than that of a dark lantern. 
It can be turned on at will, or shut off at convenience. 
There is another point. When Jesus apparently awoke 
from the delusion that he had already established God's 
kingdom on earth, he changed his ground, and connected 
its coming with his own second advent. But herein the 



JESUS' SECOND ADVENT. 341 

foundation for Christian theology is still weaker. Accord- 
ing to the Evangelical accounts, Jesus considered his 
second Advent so near, that he told his disciples, there 
were some among: those standing round him, who should 
not taste of death until they had seen the Son of man 
coming in his kingdom. — Matthew, xvi. 28 ; that the 
then living generation should not pass away until this had 
taken place, i. e. until the second Advent of the Son of 
Man, with all its preparatory and attendant circum- 
stances. — Matthew, xxiv. 34. In particular, he announced 
that this last great event was to occur immediately after 
the destruction of Jerusalem, prophesied by him just 
before. — Matthew, xxiv. 34. In any case, he was greatly 
mistaken with reference to the date, for not only has that 
generation passed away, but, for eighteen hundred years, 
one generation after another has followed its destiny and 
run out its allotted time, without his predicted second 
Advent having taken place. Yet all this, from our point 
of view, does not make the case at all worse. 

For, in order to see that the prophecy of a man's 
return in the clouds is something utterly groundless, we 
do not require to know that it did not take place at the 
time predicted. Jesus in prominent passages in Mat- 
thew — xxiv. and xxv. — says that after certain lapses 
and mishaps in the starry constellations, the sign of the 
Son of Man will appear in the heavens ; then, amid the 
lamentations of all the nations of the earth, the Son of 
Man will be seen coming on the clouds with power and 
glory ; he will send out his angels with a loud sounding 
trumpet, in order to gather his elect from all the four 
winds; and then will he sit upon his throne to judge all 
men, to doom some to everlasting fire, and welcome others 
into everlasting life. Such a description resists every 



342 ONE RELIGION : MANY CREEDS. 

attempt to give it a merely symbolical meaning; and as 
the Christian Church always understood it in the literal 
meaning of the words, so it was certainly meant by Jesus. 

It would appear from all this, that man's destiny, his 
transcendent bliss, or excruciating torment, for eternity, 
is irrevocably determined during his probation in the 
flesh ; that this probation results either in extreme happi- 
ness or in extreme misery for all time to come ; and that 
there is no lot or state intermediate for man. If this be 
so, if man's destiny is altogether worked out in this life, 
it is difficult to see why an eternity should be added to it, 
since few men live so good a life as to entitle them to an 
eternity of bliss, and few so bad a life as to deserve an 
eternity of torment. Moreover, what is to be meted out 
as the relatively proper state beyond the grave of all the 
various intermediate grades of merit or demerit, between 
those who, according to the Church, merit eternal bliss on 
the one hand, and eternal torment on the other. 

If we inquire of the Churches what reliable indication 
there is on this side of the grave, as to who will be among 
the blest, and who among the accursed, beyond the grave, 
we shall receive as many different answers as there are 
different denominations or sects, all claiming Jesus for 
their guide. The number of these sects is now so great 
as to make it difficult to designate them ; and they are 
every day increasing. This leaves us no rational course 
but to rely, for instruction upon this subject, upon him 
who, as all mankind, acknowledge, cannot deceive or 
engender delusive hopes — the Creator and Governor of 
the Universe. The teaching from this source is uniform, 
and consistent with every day experience. It is that 
there are none perfectly happy in this life, and none per- 
fectly and irretrievably miserable ; that there is every 



SALVATION FOR ALL, 343 

possible intermediate grade between the most happy and 
the most unhappy ; and that the provisions of God to 
lead all men to a more advanced state of happiness are 
unceasingly operating, and cannot fail to accomplish the 
object God designed. 

Our experience, on this side of the grave is at total 
variance with the doctrine that mankind is divided into 
two classes only ; one, being perfectly happy, and the 
other, perfectly miserable. We cannot believe that our 
present training by God and its results, and our experience 
here, should not in a degree foreshadow our state beyond 
the grave. 

With regard to the narratives in the Bible, of occur- 
rences and sayings upon which the Christian Theology of 
our day claims to be founded, there is little of which, we 
can say for certain, that it took place ; and of all, to 
which the faith of the Church, especially, attaches itself, 
the miraculous and supernatural matter, in the fate and 
destinies of Jesus, it is far more certain that it did not 
take place. But that the happiness of mankind is to 
depend upon belief in such things as these is so absurd, 
that the assertion of the principle does not, at the present 
day, require refutation. 

But, as certainly as men have a common destiny, 
attainable by all, so a knowledge of the conditions, also, 
of reaching that object must be given to every man, and 
that knowledge cannot be an accidental acquaintance 
with history coming from without, but must be a neces- 
sary knowledge attainable by faculties such as every man 
can find in himself. 



APPENDIX. 



^^^s»»^<^^^^- 



We now proceed to attempt a short account of some of the most 
celebrated of those founders of theology, who were said to be 
'inspired ; and of the creeds held, and the moral teachings incul- 
cated, by means of a priesthood or through enacted laws, among 
the most prominent sects, into which men have been divided. We 
shall add also a sketch of the views concerning religion, that were 
entertained by some of the most intellectual persons in ancient 
times. This account mainly consists of miscellaneous extracts and 
mostly from the following books. " God in History," by Bunsen ; 
" Essays on the Belief of the Parsees," by Haug ; " Life and 
Teachings of Confucius," by Legge ; " Description of the Burmese 
Empire," by Yandy ; the " Koran," translated from the Arabic, 
by Sale ; " Selections from the Koran," by Lane ; " Ancient 
Faiths," by Inman ; "Rig Veda, or Hindoo Scriptures," translated 
from the Sanscrit by Wilson ; " History of the Intellectual Devel- 
opment of Europe," by Draper ; " History of Civilization in Eng- 
land," by Buckle ; " The Ten Tribes of Israel," by Mrs. Simon ; 
"The Dervishes," by Brown; "The Christian Bible;" and "The 
Talmud." Not only is the historical portion of the several 
narratives taken from the above named books, but the views and 
remarks with which they are interspersed are, with slight excep- 
tions, those of the writers of the works in question. The imme- 
diate object in compiling this historical account is to show that the 
point of resemblance, that is common to every denomination or 
sect — and the only one common to them all — is their teaching 
love and duty to God and man, or, in other words, natural religion. 
This suggests the important question, whether this does not com- 
prise the whole of man's religious duty. 

The present age is pre-eminently utilitarian. The Koran, the 
Zend Avesta, the Vedas, the Talmud, are read by the learned and 
the wise of our times — not with a sole view of refuting them, any 
A 



2 APPENDIX. 

more .than is the Bible so read. All literature in relation to the 
doings of man, whether religious, moral or legal, whensoever and 
wheresoever produced is a part and jjarcel of humanity. The 
judicious student seeks to understand the phase of culture, which 
begot these items of our inheritance — the spirit that moves upon 
their face— and while that which is dead in them is buried, we 
rejoice in that which lives in them. Our stores of knowledge are 
enriched from theirs. We are stirred by their poetry ; we are 
moved to high and holy thoughts when they touch, the divine 
chord in our hearts. The more extended the researches into the 
history of man, the more reliable are the data, the clearer is the 
light, upon which and by which to determine the true character 
of mankind and their relations to God. 

The theology and religious precepts promulgated by Zoroaster 
from 1200 to 1500 years B. 0., among the Parsees, have their 
exponent in a book called Zend Avesta. The Zoroastrian idea of 
the personality and attributes of the Devil, and of the infernal 
Kingdom coincide with the Christian idea ; as does that of the 
resurrection of the dead. Zoroaster is represented to have worked 
miracles; he was called the son of Ormasdes, or God. The Par- 
sees claim that their so-called sacred books were all written by 
God and given to Zoroaster, as his prophet, to forward them to 
mankind. 

Zoroaster had convened the nobles of the land that he might 
perform a great public, religious act. Arriving at the head of 
his disciples, the seers and preachers, he summoned the princes to 
draw nigh and to choose between faith and superstition. 

" Make your choice !" he exclaims; " around man there is a bat- 
tle waging in the spiritual universe. Even while on earth, he is 
surrounded by good and evil Spirits. He is endowed with all 
manner of good gifts and blessings ; and his soul is in the hands 
of the Lord of the Universe, the Creator and governor of the 
world, the true God. Nevertheless, in this world, Evil has an 
independent power from the beginning ; it must and will be ulti- 
mately overcome ; but this can only be effected by a sincere break- 
ing with the Evil Power — a personal decision in favor of the Good 
and True. Choose now blessing or cursing! You cannot serve 
two masters ; and you cannot hold fellowship with lies. One side 
or the other must yield." The following is also a part of the 
recorded speech of Zoroaster on this occasion ; 



ZOROASTRIANISM. 3 

11 1 will now tell you, who are assembled here, the wise sayings 
of the most Wise, the praises of the living God. In the beginning 
there was a pair of twins, two spirits, each of a peculiar activity ; 
these are the good and the base in thought, and word, and deed. 
Choose one of the two spirits, be good, not base ! 

"And these two Spirits united, created the first (the material 
things ;) one the reality, the other, non-reality. To the liars, (the 
worshippers of the devas, i. e. base,) existence will become bad, 
whilst the believer in the true God enjoys prosperity. Of these 
two spirits you must choose one, either the evil, the originator of 
the worst actions, or the true holy spirit. You cannot belong to 
both of them (i. e. you cannot be worshippers of the one true God, 
and of many gods at the same time.) Thus let us be such as help 
the life of the future. The wise — loving spirits are the greatest 
supporters of it. The prudent man wishes only to be there where 
wisdom is at home. He (Ahuramazda) first created through his 
inborn lustre the multitude of celestial bodies, and through his 
intellect the good creatures, governed by the inborn good mind. 

" When my eyes beheld Thee, the essence of truth, the creator 
of life, who manifests his life in his works, then I knew Thee to 
be the primeval spirit, thou Wise, so high in mind as to create the 
world, and the father of the good mind. " 

Zoroaster claims to have received instructions from a supreme 
Being about the highest matters of human speculation. He 
appears as a prophet before a large assembly of his countrymen 
to propound to them his new doctrines. 

The • Magi (or priests) of Persia were at one time split into 
several sects, one of which was called the Mazda Kyahs, who 
believed in the transmigration of souls, like the Brahmans, (a 
doctrine which is altogether strange to the Zend A vesta, the sacred 
book of the Parsees.) The other sect believed in a revelation 
nia^ by God to the first man, called Gayomart by the Parsees, 
corresponding to the Adam of the Bible. 

" He therefore who, sacrificing his own selfish interests, devotes 
himself to the divine will, to goodness, shall receive earthly power, 
strength, possessions. This earth with her gifts, is the heritage of 
the good, or is destined to become so. This view pervades all the 
sayings of Zoroaster. 

The Zoroastrian sacred Book furthermore exhibits the following 
teachings, which will compare advantageously with those of the 



4 APPENDIX. 

Bible. Lying is regarded as the most discreditable thing by 
them ; next to it is the incurring of debt, chiefly for this reason, 
that the debtor is often compelled to tell lies. Zoroaster acknow- 
ledged only one God. "You cannot be worshippers of the one true 
God, and of many gods at the same time." 

" The prudent man wishes only to be there where wisdom is at 
home. 

" Wisdom is the shelter from lies, the annihilation of the 
destroyer (the evil spirit.) All perfect things are garnered up in 
the splendid residence of the good mind, the Wise, and the True, 
who are known as the best beings. 

"Therefore, perform ye the commandments which, pronounced 
by the Wise (God) himself, have been given to mankind ; for they 
are a nuisance and perdition to liars ; but prosperity to the 
believer in the truth ; they are the fountain of happiness. 

" He first created through his inborn lustre the multitude of 
celestial bodies, and through his intellect the good creatures, 
governed by the inborn good mind. Thou living spirit, who art 
everlasting, makes them (the good creatures) grow. 

" Do not listen to the sayings and precepts of the wicked. 

" Who are opposed in their thoughts, words and actions to the 
wicked, and think of the welfare of creation, their efforts will be 
crowned by success. 

" Blessed is he, blessed are all men, to whom the living wise 
god of his own command should grant those two everlasting 
powers (wholesomeness and immortality.) For this very good I 
beseech Thee. (Ahuramazda.) Mayest thou give me happiness, 
the good true things, and the possession of the good mind ! 

" I believe Thee to be the best being of all, the source of light 
for the world. Every body shall choose Thee (believe in thee) as 
the source of light, Thee, Thee, holiest spirit Mazda ! Thou 
createst all good true things by means of the power of thy good 
mind at any time, and promisest us (who believe in Thee) a long 
life. 

" I will believe Thee to be the powerful holy (god.) For thou 
givest with thy hand, filled with helps, good to the pious man, as 
well as to the impious by means of the warmth of the fire strength- 
ening the good things. From this reason the vigor of the good 
mind has fallen to my lot, 



ZOROASTRIANISM. 5 

■' Thus I believe in Thee, as the holy God, thou living Wise ! 
Because I beheld Thee to be the primeval cause of life in the 
creation. For thou hast made (instituted) holy customs, and 
words, thou hast given a bad fortune (emptiness) to the base, and 
a good to the good man. 

" I believed in Thee, living Wise ! in that thou earnest with 
wealth and with the good mind through the actions of which our 
manners thrive. The everlasting laws, given by thy intellect, 
nobody may abolish. 

" I will be mindful of the truth (to improve all good things) as 
long as I shall be able. Mayest thou grant me the truth, tell me 
the best to be done. 

" That I will ask Thee, tell me it right, thou living God ! By 
what means are the present things to be supported ? That spirit, 
the holy one, is the guardian of the beings to ward off from them 
every evil, he is the promoter of all life. 

" That I will ask Thee, tell me it right, thou living God ! Who 
was in the beginning the father and creator of truth ? Who made 
the sun and stars the way ? Who causes the moon to increase and 
wane, if not thou ? This I wish to know except what I already 
know. 

" That I will ask Thee, tell me it right, thou living God ! Who 
made the lights of good effect and the darkness ? Who made the 
sleep of good effect and the activity. Who made morning, noon 
and night, reminding always the priest of his duties. 

" To become acquainted with these things, I approach Thee, 
wise, holy spirit ! Creator of all beings ! 

"Tell me good things to perform, the duties which are enjoined 
by thyself, thou Wise ! Which are communicated for the welfare 
of all beings by the good mind. What good, intended for the 
increase of life, is to be had : that may come to me. 

" Instruct me right in the faith which, being the best of all, 
may produce the good things, by means of words, and actions. 
My heart wishes (it is" my lively desire,) that I may know Thee, 
thou Wise ! 

" To those among you who do not live according to the sayings 
(of God,) experience may be a help. 

" God is endowed with good actions. Not is the being, who 
creates all, to be deceived. 



6 APPENDIX. 

" God delivered the word, the best to be heard by men. Whole- 
someness and immortality are by means of the good mind's actions 
in the possession of the living Wise. 

" By means of his power and his rule the generations gone by 
subsisted, and also those to come will subsist on him. The sincere 
man's mind is aspiring to the everlasting immortality. 

" Him, whom I desire to worship, him, who knows the truth, 
him, the living Wise, as the source of the good mind, the good 
action, and the good word. 

" Him will I adore with our good mind, him, who is always pro- 
pitious to us at day and night ; he, the living Wise, who through 
the sublimity of the good mind protects the truth. 

" Thou living God ! Tell me the power necessary for holding 
up the religion. 

"What man or what woman performs the best actions, known 
to Thee, for the benefit of this life, promoting thus the truth and 
spreading thy rule through the good mind. 

" To you I will speak ; because you distinguish right from 
wrong, the truth, contained in the ancient commandments of the 
living God. I beseech you to assist me. 

" Those who, by their base minds, cause mischief and ruin, those 
who are devoid of all good works and find delight in evil doings 
only — such men are punished. 

" Every one who is truly noble by means of the good inborn 
mind will be rewarded. 

" We praise all good thoughts, all good words, all good deeds, 
which are and will be (which are being done and which have been 
done) and we likewise keep clean and pure all that is good. 

" We strive to think, to speak, and to do only what of all actions 
might be best fitted to promote the two lives (that of the body and 
of the soul.) 

" We worship the promotion of all good, all that is very beau- 
tiful, shining, immortal, bright, every thing that is good. 

" There shall not be overbearance nor low-spiritedness, nor 
violence, nor deceit. Nor shall there be one of the other signs 
through which men used to become defiled by the evil spirit." 

Zarathustra called into existence a new religious community to 
be founded on the principle of inviolable faith and truth. 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 7 

Ahuramazda, as the only Lord, grants blessings to those who 
worship him with a sincere heart, by speaking always truth, and 
performing good actions. 

A living faith in a moral order of the world can alone explain 
the influence, which the Zoroastrian religion has now exercised for 
three thousand years on the populations of Western Asia. 

The Zoroastrian system recognizes one God, omnipotent, invisi- 
ble, without form, the creator, ruler and preserver of the universe, 
and the last judge. The worship of idols, and indeed of any being 
except Ormuzd, is held in abomination ; but a reverence for fire 
and the sun is inculcated, as they are emblems of the glory of the 
Supreme Deity. It is probably true, however, that the multitude 
in the course of time have forgotten that discrimination between 
the symbol and the object of their adoration, which was undoubt- 
edly taught by Zoroaster. To Ormuzd as the source of all good, is 
opposed Ahriman, the cause of evil. To worship the good spirit 
and hate the bad, are the two fundamental articles of the Guebre, 
and Parsee creed. Prayer, obedience, industry, honesty, hos- 
pitality, alms-deeds, chastity and truthfulness, are enjoined; and 
envy, hatred, quarrelling, anger, revenge and polygamy are 
strictly forbidden. Fasting and celibacy are considered dis- 
pleasing to Ormuzd. 

The Koran of Mohammed is a code of ritual, moral and criminal 
laws, as well as a rule of faith or theology, and religious duty for 
a large portion of mankind. 

The general religion of the Arabs, before Mohammed, was the 
Sabian ; though there was also great numbers of Christians, Jews, 
and Magians among the number. 

The Sabians believe in one God, and produce many strong 
arguments for his unity ; but they also pay an adoration to the 
stars, or to the angels, and intelligences which they suppose reside 
in them, and govern the world under the Supreme Deity. They 
endeavor to perfect themselves in the four intellectual virtues, and 
believe that the souls of wicked men will be punished for ages, 
but will afterwards be received to mercy. Mohammed is said to 
have been born fifty-three years before the Flight, which happened 
in the year 622 of the Christian era. His father Abd- Allah was 
a younger son of Abd-el-Muttalib, the chief of his tribe, and, 
dying very young and in his father's life-time, left his widow and 
infant son in very mean circumstances, his whole substance con- 



8 APPENDIX. 

sisting but of five camels and an Abyssinian female slave. 
Mohammed was instructed in the business of a merchant, which 
business his uncle followed ; and to that end he took him into 
Syria, when he was but thirteen years of age, and afterwards 
recommended him to Khadeejeh, a noble and rich widow, for her 
factor, in whose service he behaved himself so well, that by 
making him her husband she soon raised him to an equality with 
the richest in Mekkeh. His age was then five and twenty years, 
and hers was forty. After fifteen years from the period of his 
marriage, his age being now forty, he announced for the first time, 
that he was sent by God to restore the only true and ancient reli- 
gion which had been professed by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, 
Jesus, and all the prophets ; or, in other words, to destroy the 
gross idolatry into which the generality of his countrymen had 
fallen, and by weeding out the corruptions and superstitions 
which the later Christians and Jews had introduced into religion, 
to restore it to its original purity, which consisted chiefly in the 
worship of one God only. Christianity, wherever it was professed, 
in the time of Mohammed was most grossly corrupted, both in 
doctrine and in practice. The notion of the divinity of the Virgin 
Mary appears, from what is said by commentators on the Koran, 
to have prevailed widely among the Christians of Arabia. Some, 
also at the Council of Nice, asserted that there were two gods 
beside the Father ; namely, Christ, and the Virgin Mary ; and 
were thence called Mariamites. Others imagined her to be exempt 
from humanity, and deified. This opinion is justly condemned 
in the Koran. Other sects there were, of many denominations, 
within the borders of Arabia, which took refuge there from the 
proscriptions of the imperial edicts ; and several of their tenets 
the Koran confirmed. 

With regard to the Jews, though they were an inconsiderable 
and despised people in other parts of the world, yet in Arabia, 
whither many of them fled after the destruction of Jerusalem, 
they grew very powerful, several tribes and princes embracing 
their religion. Mohammed at first showed great regard to them, 
and many of their Opinions, doctrines and customs, were sanc- 
tioned by the Koran, but that people, agreeably to their wonted 
obstinacy, were so far from being his proselytes, that they were 
some of the bitterest enemies he had, waging continual war with 
him, so that their reduction cost him infinite trouble and danger, 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 9 

and at last his life — a remarkable coincidence as between Moham- 
med and Christ. 

The eloquence of the Koran ; the nature of its principal dogmas 
(which required no one to whom it was preached to renounce 
altogether his former faith) ; the general adaptation of its civil 
and criminal laws to the existing constitution of Arabian society ; 
the political liberty which it conferred upon the mass of its 
disciples (by making them equal in the eye of the law,) while it 
limited the power of those in authority (by religious obligations) ; 
the smallness of the taxes which it imposed ; the simplicity, com- 
pleteness, and consistency, of its whole code (which was to be 
observed always according to its spirit rather than its letter) ; this 
had an effect to make his teachings acceptable. 

Mohammed had certainly the personal qualifications which were 
necessary for the accomplishment of his undertaking. The Moslem 
authors are excessive in their commendations of him, and speak 
much of his religious and moral virtues ; as his piety, veracity, 
justice, liberality, clemency, humility and abstinence. His charity 
in particular, they say, was so conspicuous, that he had seldom 
any money in his house, keeping no more for his own use than was 
just sufficient to maintain his family ; and he frequently spared 
even some part of his own provisions to supply the necessities of 
the poor ; so that before the year's end he had generally little or 
nothing left. God, says El-Bukharee, offered him the keys of the 
treasures of the earth, but he would not accept them. The eastern 
historians also describe him as a man of an excellent judgment, 
and a happy memory ; and these natural parts were improved by 
a great experience and knowledge of men, and the observations 
he had made in his travels. They say he was a person of few 
words, of an equal and cheerful temper, pleasant and familiar 
in conversation, of inoffensive behaviour towards his friends, 
and of great condescension towards his inferiors ; to all which 
were joined a comely, agreeable person, and a polite address, 
which were of no small service in prepossessing those in his 
favor whom he attempted to persuade. 

As to acquired learning (in the common acceptation of the term) 
it is confessed that he had none at all, having no other education 
than what was customary in his tribe. This defect was so far from 
being prejudicial, or putting a stop to his design, that he made 
the greatest use of it, insisting that the writings which he pro- 



10 APPENDIX. 

duced as revelations from God, could not possibly be a forgery of 
his own ; because it was not conceivable that a person who could 
neither write nor read should be able to compose a book of such 
excellent doctrine, and in so elegant a style ; and thereby obvi- 
ating an objection that might have carried a great deal of weight. 
And for this reason his followers, instead of being ashamed of 
their master's ignorance, glory in it, as an evident proof of his 
divine mission, and scruple not to call him (as he is indeed called 
in the Koran itself) the Illiterate Prophet. 

Before Mohammed made any attempt abroad, he rightly judged 
that it was necessary for him to begin by the conversion of his 
own household. Having therefore conducted his family to a cave 
in Mount Hera, near Mekkeh, whither he had been accustomed 
to retire for a month in every year, for the purposes of religious 
contemplation and worship, he there opened the secret of his 
mission to his wife Khadeejeh. He acquainted her that the angel 
Gabriel had just before appeared to him, and informed him that 
he was appointed the apostle of God ; telling her that the angel 
had previously addressed him, saying, "Recite," whereupon he 
said, "And what shall I recite ? " — to which Gabriel answered, 
"Recite, [commencing thus,] In the name of thy Lord, who hath 
created [all creatures] : he hath created man of a little clot of 
blood. Recite, and thy Lord is the most Bountiful, who hath 
taught [the art of writing] by the pen : He hath taught man 
that which he knew not." Khadeejeh received this news with 
great joy, swearing by Him in whose hand (that is, at w r hose dis- 
posal) was her soul, that she trusted he would be the prophet of 
his nation ? and immediately communicated what she had heard to 
her cousin Warikah Ibn-Nowfal, who, being a Christian, could 
write in the Hebrew character, and was tolerably well versed in 
the Scriptures ; and he as readily came into her. opinion, assuring 
her that the same angel who had formerly appeared unto Moses 
was now sent to Mohammed. This first overture the Prophet 
made in the month of Ramadan, in the fortieth year of his age, 
which he therefore usually called the first of his mission. The next 
person to whom Mohammed applied was 'Abd- Allah Ibn-Abee- 
Kohafeh, surnamed Aboo-Bekr, a man of great authority among 
the tribe of Kureysh, and one whose interest he well knew would 
be of great service to him, as it soon appeared, for Aboo-Bekr, 
being gained over, prevailed also on 'Othmkn Ibn-'Affon, 'Abd- 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 1 1 

Er-Rahman, Ibn-'Owf, Saad Ibn-Abee-Wakkas, Ez-Zubeyr Ibn- 
El-'Oww;im, and Talhah Ibn-'Obeyd Allah, all principal men in 
Mekkeh, to follow his example. 

These men were the six chief companions, who, with a few more, 
were converted in the space of three years ; at the end of which, 
Mohammed, having, as he hoped, a sufficient interest to support 
him, made his mission no longer a secret. He made the following 
speech : — "I know not a man among the Arabs who hath brought 
unto his people a. more excellent thing than that which I have 
brought unto you. I have brought unto you happiness in this life 
and in that which is to come ; for God (whose name be exalted ! ) 
hath commanded me to call you unto Him.'' 

Mohammed began to preach in public to the people, who heard 
him with some patience, till he came to upbraid them with the 
idolatry, obstinacy, and perverseness of themselves and their 
fathers ; which so highly provoked them, that they declared them- 
selves his enemies, and would soon have procured his ruin, had he 
not been protected by Aboo-Talib. 

Mohammed was not to be intimidated, telling his uncle plainly, 
that if they set the sun against him on his right hand, and the 
moon on his left, he would not leave his enterprise : and Aboo- 
Talib, seeing him so firmly resolved to proceed, used no further 
arguments, but promised to stand by him against all his enemies. 

The tribe of Kureysh, finding that they could prevail neither by 
fair words nor menaces, tried what they could do by force and 
ill-treatment ; using Mohammed's followers so very injuriously, 
that it was not safe for them to continue at Mekkeh any longer. 
In the sixth year of his mission Mohammed had the pleasure of 
seeing his party strengthened by the conversion of his uncle 
Hamzeh, a man of great valor and merit, and of 'Omar Ibin-El- 
Khattab, a person highly esteemed, and once a violent opposer of 
the prophet. As persecution generally advances rather than 
obstructs the spreading of a religion, El-Islam made great progress 
among the Arab tribes. 

Mohammed was not wanting to himself. He boldly continued 
to preach to the public assemblies at the pilgrimage ; and while 
doing so at the 'Akabeh (or Mountain road, in the route of the 
pilgrims from Mekkeh to Mount 'Arafat,) gained six proselytes, 
inhabitants of Yethrib (afterwards called El-Medeeneh,) of the 
Jewish tribe of El Khazraj. who, on their return home, failed not 



12 APPENDIX. 

to speak much in commendation of their new religion, and 
exhorted their fellow citizens to embrace the same. 

In the same year, which was the next year after the conversion 
of the six men of Yethrib, twelve men of that city, of whom ten 
were of the tribe of El-Khazraj, and the other two of that of Ows, 
came on a pilgrimage, and made a vow of obedience to Moham- 
med, and which was to this effect, viz : That they should 
renounce all idolatory : That they should not steal, nor commit 
fornication, nor kill their children (as the Pagan Arabs used to do 
when they apprehended that they should not be able to maintain 
them,) nor forge lies ; and that they should obey the prophet in all 
things that were right. The next year, being the thirteenth of 
Mohammed's mission, he chose twelve out of their number, who 
were to have the same authority among them as the twelve apostles 
of Christ had among his disciples. 

Hitherto Mohammed had employed persuasion only to effect his 
enterprise. So far was he from allowing his followers to use force, 
that he exhorted them to bear patiently those injuries which were 
offered them on account of their faith ; and when persecuted him- 
self, he chose rather to quit the place of his birth, and retire to 
El-Medeeneh, than to make any resistance. 

But when the opposition of his enemies had become so great as 
to threaten the lives of himself and his followers, and the latter 
were sufficiently numerous to take up arms in self-defence, with a 
fair prospect of success, he proclaimed that God had allowed him 
and his followers, to defend themselves against the unbelievers. 

When Mohammed's party had become sufficiently numerous and 
powerful to put those laws in execution, by achieving repeated 
victories over enemies who might easily have overwhelmed them 
but for want of union, the number of the nominal Muslims was 
thereby rapidly increased, and the faith of El- Islam indirectly pro- 
pagated. 

Thus was El-Islam established, and idolatry rooted out, in 
Mohammed's life-time (for he died the next year,) throughout all 
Arabia, except only El-Yemameh : where Museylimeh, who set 
up also for a prophet, as Mohammed's competitor, had a great 
party, and was not reduced until the the time of the Khaleefeh 
Aboo Bekr. The Arabs being them united in one faith and under 
one prince, found themselves in a condition to make those con- 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 13 

quests which extended the dominion of the Muslims, and con- 
sequently their faith, over so great a part of the world. 

The Koran is universally allowed to be written with the utmost 
elegance and purity of language, in the dialect of the tribe of 
Kureysh, the most noble and polite of all the Arabs, but with 
some mixture, though very rarely, of other dialects. It is con- 
fessedly the standard of the Arabic tongue, and, as the more 
orthodox believe, and are taught by the book itself, inimitable by 
any human pen, and therefore it is insisted on as a permanent 
miracle, greater than that of raising the dead, and alone sufficient 
to convince the world of its divine orgin. 

To this miracle did Mohammed himself chiefly appeal for the 
confirmation of his mission, publicly challenging the most eloquent 
men in Arabia, which was at that time stocked with thousands 
whose sole study and ambition it was to excel in elegance of style 
and composition, to produce even a single chapter that might be 
compared with it. 

The style of the Koran is generally beautiful and fluent, but 
concise, and often obscure ; adorned with bold figures after the 
eastern taste, enlivened with florid and sententious expressions, 
and in many places, especially where the majesty and attributes 
of God are described, sublime and magnificent. 

The burthen of the teaching of the Koran is the unity of God, 
and the duty of man to man ; it being laid down therein as a 
fundamental truth, that there never was, and never can be, more 
than one true religion ; for though the particular laws or ceremo- 
nies are only temporary, and subject to alteration, yet the sub- 
stance of it, being eternal truth, is not liable to change, but con- 
tinues immutably the same. 

Other parts of the Koran are taken up in giving necessary laws 
and directions, in frequent admonitions to moral and divine 
virtues, and above all, to the worshipping and reverencing of the 
only true God, and resignation to His will. The following are 
among its teachings. 

The pious is he who believeth in God, and who giveth money to 
the needy, those who perform their covenant with men in adver- 
sity, (or excessive poverty,) and affliction, (or disease,) and done 
that which is right (according to God's law) they shall have their 
reward. 

Those who do an evil thing shall be punished, but they who 
have believed, and done good works, these shall be rewarded. 



14 APPENDIX. 

These are they who have purchased error in exchange for right 
direction, and their traffic hath not been profitable: on the con- 
trary, they have incurred loss. And God encompasseth the 
unbelievers by his knowledge and his powers, so that they cannot 
escape him. 

Those who have believed in God and done righteous works shall 
be rewarded, the hypocrites shall be punished. 

The service of God is as the similitude of a grain that hath pro- 
duced seven ears, in each ear a hundred grains. 

A kind speech, and forgiveness, are better than alms which 
harm, or reproach, followeth. 

Turn away evil by that which is better (as anger by patience, 
and ignorance by mildness, and evil conduct by forgiveness ;) and 
lo, he between whom and thyself (was) enmity (shall become) as 
though he were a warm friend : but none is endowed with this 
disposition except those who have been patient ; and none is 
endowed with it except him who hath great good fortune. 

Verily God commandeth justice, and the doing of good, and the 
giving unto the relation ; and He forbiddeth wickedness and 
iniquity and oppression : He admonisheth you that ye may reflect. 

Give the orphans when they come to age their substance, and 
render them not in exchange bad for good, and devour not their 
substance, by adding it to your own substance ; for this is a great 
sin. 

Those who do evil ignorantly, and then repent speedily ; unto 
them will God be turned : for God is knowing and wise. 

Covet not that which God hath bestowed on some of you pre- 
ferably to others. 

The honest women are obedient, careful in the absence of their 
husbands, for that God preserveth them by committing them to 
the care and protection of the men, seek not an occasion of 
quarrel against them, show kindness unto parents, and relations, 
and orphans, and the poor, and your neighbor. Verily God will 
not wrong any one, and if it be a good action he will recompense 
it with a great reward. 

God is a sufficient patron ; and God is a sufficient helper. 

Those who believe and do that which is right, we will bring 
into gardens watered by rivers, therein shall they remain for ever. 

And ye are also allowed to marry fiee women living chastely 
with them neither committing fornication, nor taking them for 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 15 

concubines, observe justice when ye appear as witnesses, and let 
not hatred towards any induce you to do wrong; but act justly 
the Lords renders the reward of their works. 

Show kindness unto your parents, whether the one of them, or 
both of them attain to old age with thee, speak respectfully unto 
them ; and submit to behave humbly towards them, out of tender 
affection. 

Give unto him who is of kin to you his due, and also unto the 
poor and the traveller. And waste not thy substance profusely; 
let not thy hand be tied up to thy neck ; neither open it with an 
unbounded expansion, lest thou become worthy of reprehension 
and be reduced to poverty. 

Draw not near unto fornication; for it is wickedness, and an 
evil way. 

Meddle not with the substance of the orphan, unless it be to 
improve it. Perform your covenant. And give full measure, 
when you measure aught ; and weigh with a just balance. 

Walk not proudly in the land. 

Whosoever resigneth himself unto God, being a worker of 
righteousness, taketh hold on a strong handle ; and unto God 
belongeth the issue of all things. 

Whosoever desireth excellence ; unto God doth all excellence 
belong ; unto him ascendeth the good speech ; and the righteous 
work will, he exalt. 

Those who believe, and put their trust in their Lord ; and who 
avoid heinous and filthy crimes, and when they are angry forgive • 
and who give alms. 

He who forgiveth, and is reconciled unto his enemy, shall receive 
his reward. 

Let not men laugh other men to scorn ; who peradventure may 
be better than themselves ; neither let women laugh other women 
to scorn ; who may possibly be better than themselves. Neither 
defame one another ; nor call one another by opprobrious appella- 
tions. 

Verily the hypocrites are those who act wickedly. 

Consume not your wealth among yourselves in vain ; nor present 
it unto judges, that ye may devour part of men's substance 
unjustly, against your own consciences, 



16 APPENDIX. 

Buddhism. 

The foresight of the great founder of this system was justified 
by its prodigious, its unparallelled, its enduring success — a success 
that rested on the assertion of the dogma of the absolute equality 
of all men, and this in a country that for ages had been oppressed 
by castes. 

Buddhism arose about the tenth century before Christ, its 
founder being Arddha Chiddi, a native of Capila, near Nepaul, 
1000 B. C. The Sanscrit words occuring in Buddhism attest its 
Hindu orgin. Buddha, itself being Sanscrit for intelligence. 
After the system had spread widely in India, it was carried by 
Missionaries into Ceylon, Tartary, Thibet, China, Japan, Burmah, 
and is now professed by a greater portion of the human race than 
any other system of theology. Until quite recently, the history 
of Arddha Chiddi, and the system he taught have, notwithstand- 
ing their singular interest, been very imperfectly known in 
Europe. He was born in affluence, and of a royal family. In his 
twenty-ninth year he retired from the world, the pleasures of 
which he had tasted, and of which he had become weary. Leav- 
ing his numerous wives, he became a religious mendicant. Pro- 
foundly impressed with the vanity of human affairs, he devoted 
himself to philosophical meditation, by severe self-denial, emanci- 
pating himself from all worldly hopes and cares. For the name by 
which his parents had called him, he substituted that of Gotama, 
or " he who kills the senses." It is claimed that Gotama was born 
under the shade of a tree, and that he overcame the love of the 
world, and the fear of death ; under the shade of a tree he 
preached his first sermon in the shroud, and under the shade of a 
tree he died. 

In four months after he commenced his ministry, he had five 
disciples ; at the close of the year they had increased to twelve 
hundred. In the twenty-nine centuries that have passed, and 
since that time they have given rise to sects counting millions of 
souls, outnumbering the followers of all other religious teachers. 
The system still seems to retain much of its pristine vigor ; yet 
so much of all the systems of worship as consist of creeds and 
theologies, gotten up by particular men, are perishable. The reli- 
gion given by God to all men alone endureth. Gotama died at 
the advanced age of eighty years ; his corpse was burnt eight days 
subsequently. 



BUDDHISM. 17 

But several years before this event, his system must be con- 
sidered as thoroughly established. It shows how little depends 
upon the nature of a doctrine, and how much upon effective 
organization, that Buddhism, the principles of which are far above 
the reach of popular thought, should have been propagated with 
so much rapidity, for it made converts by preaching and not, like 
Mohammedanism, by the sword. 

Shortly after Gotama's death, a council of five-hundred ecclesi- 
astics assembled for the purpose of settling the doctrine. A cen- 
tury later, a second council met to regulate the monastic institu- 
tion. In proclaiming the equality of all men in this life, the 
Buddhists, as we have seen, came into direct collision with the 
orthodox creed of India, long carried out into practice in the 
institution of castes — a collision that was embittered by the abhor- 
rence the Buddhists displayed for any distinction between the 
clergy and laity. 

The fundamental principle of Buddhism is that there is a 
supreme impelling Power in the universe, a self-existent principle, 
it rejects inquiry into first causes as being unphilosophical, and con- 
siders that phenomena alone can be dealt with by our finite minds. 

The Buddhist denies the immediate interposition of any such 
agency as Providence, maintaining that the system of nature, once 
arising, must proceed irresistibly according to the laws which 
brought it into being. To the Brahman priesthood such ideas 
were particularly obnoxious ; they were hostile to any philoso- 
phical system founded on the principle that the world is governed 
by law, for they suspected that its tendency would be to leave 
them without any mediatory functions, and therefore without any 
claims on the faithful. Equally does Gotama deny the existence 
of chance, saying that that which we call chance, is nothing but 
the effect of an unknown, unvoidable cause. 

He will not, however, recognize any vicarious action. Each one 
must work out for himself his own salvation. 

The philosophical ability displayed m the Buddhism creeds is 
very great ; indeed, it may be doubted whether Europe has pro- 
duced its metaphysical equivalent. 

In its early ages, Buddhism had its fables, legends, and miracles 
Its humble devotees implicitly believed that Mohamaia ; the 
mother of Gotama, an immaculate Virgin, conceived him through a 
divine influence, and that thus he was of the nature of God and 



18 APPENDIX. 

man conjoined ; that he stood upon his feet and spoke at the 
moment of his birth ; that at five months of age he sat unsupported 
in the air : that at the moment of his conversion he was attacked 
by a legion of demons, and that in his penance-fasting he reduced 
himself to the allowance of one pepper-pod a day ; that he had 
been incarnate many times before, and that on his ascension 
through the air to heaven he left his footprints on a mountain in 
Ceylon which is to be worshipped ; that there is a paradise of gems, 
and flowers, and feasts, and music for the good, and a hell of 
sulphur, and flames, and torment for the wicked ; that it is lawful 
to resort to the worship of images, that there are spirits, and 
goblins, and other superhuman forms, that there is a queen of 
heaven ; that the reading of the scriptures is in itself an actual 
merit ; whether its precepts are followed or not ; that prayer may 
be offered by saying a formula by rote, or even by turning the 
handle of a mill from which invocations written on paper issue 
forth, that the revealer of Buddhism is to be regarded as the 
religious head of the world. 

He alone who flees to Buddha, who clings to doctrine and the 
Church — he will understand right purely and clearly the fourfold 
lofty truth. 

The reader cannot fail to mark the resemblance of these ideas to 
some of those of the Roman Church. 

Decorated with these extraneous but popular recommendations, 
Buddhism has been embraced by four-tenths of the human race. 
It has a prodigious literature, great temples, and many monuments. 
Its Monasteries are scattered from the north of Tartary almost to 
the equinoctial line. In these an education is imparted not unlike 
that of the European monasteries of the middle ages. It has been 
estimated that in Tartary 0De- third of the population are Lamas. 
There are single convents containing more than two thousand 
individuals ; the wealth the country voluntarily pours into them. 
Elementary education is more widely diffused than in Europe. It 
is rare to meet with a person who cannot read. Among the priests, 
there are many who are devout, and as might be expected, many 
who are impostors. The result is that under the extensive educa- 
tion and information that prevails throughout these countries, the 
creeds and theologies based upon their early fables, legends, and 
miracles, are verging into indifference with the masses, as is the 
case among the educated in Christian countries, 



BUDDHISM. 19 

The formula under which they live is, " That creeds and theolo- 
gies are many. The Religion of Brotherhood is one ; we are 
Brothers." 

They smile at the credulity of the good-natured Tartars, who 
believe in the wonders of miracle-workers, for they have miracle- 
workers, who can perform the most supernatural cures, who can 
lick red-hot iron, who can cut open their bowels, and, by passing 
their hand over the wound make themselves whole again, who can 
raise the dead. In China, these miracles, with all their authenti- 
cations, have descended to the conjuror, and are performed for the 
amusement of children. 

According to the most credible of the accounts that have come 
down to us we find in the Founder of the theology of India a 
character so noble, self-sacrificing, and overflowing with brotherly 
love, combined at the same time with such sobriety in his mode of 
action that any idea of either imposture or insanity in his case is 
utterly inadmissible. 

Of the Buddhistic writings that have appeared since the time of 
Burnouf, either in the original text or in translations, the most 
important is the text of the oldest Pali book, w T hich is also regarded 
by all parties among the Buddhists, as the highest authority, the 
" Dhamapadam," or " Footsprints of the Law," which is a collec- 
tion of Aphorisms. These, as well as Westergard's labors, we owe 
to the praiseworthy encouragement of the Danish Government. 

We give the following, selected ' from The Three Thousand 
Buddha Proverbs : 

Though a thousand words should range themselves in the empty 
swell of thy speech. 

Far better is one speech full of meaning that shall give one man 
rest. 

Though a thousand words the hymn should number in the 
empty swell of thy words. 

Far better is a single word that shall bring rest to one man. 

He who should conquer in battle ten times a hundred thousand 
were indeed a hero 

But truly a greater hero is he who has but once conquered 
himself. 

To conquer one's self is a greater victory than to gain a battle : 



20 APPENDIX. 

The victory of him who tames himself, who at all times knows 
how to rule himself. 

Neither God nor Gandava, neither Mara nor yet Brahma, can 
frustrate such a victory, obtained by such a man. 

Though one should offer a thousand sacrifices every month, and 
offer them for a hundred years. 

He who for only one moment contemplates himself in utter 
repose, — that is repose of conscience, — he has performed a better 
act of devotion than by a hundred years' sacrifices. 

And though one should keep the sacred flame alight for a hun- 
dred years in a forest. 

He who for only one moment contemplates himself in utter 
repose. 

His one act of devotion is better than a hundred years' sacrifices. 

Whatever sacrifices the whole world might offer in a year. 

Whatever sacrifice any might offer in the hope of reward. 

That all is not worth one-quarter so much, as he who cherishes 
reverence for the virtuous. 

He who cherishes reverence in his heart, and ever honors his 
superiors, to him shall be ever added these four gifts : 

Long Life, Beauty, Joy, Power. 

He who lives in lust for a hundred years, ever unquiet in his 
heart. 

Much better is a single day of a temperate thoughtful life. 

He who lives in folly for a hundred years, ever restless. 

Much better is a single day of meditation upon wisdom. 

He who lives a hundred years, faint-heartedly, without energy 
of mind. 

Much better is a single day used with firm will and energy. 

He who lives a hundred years, not reflecting on the origin and 
end of life. 

Much better is a single day of him who marks its origin and 
end. 

He who lives a hundred years, and does not behold the path to 
immortality. 

Much better is a single day of him who descries that path. 

He who lives a hundred years and never discerns the loftiness 
of the Law. 

Much better is a single day of him who beholds the heights of 
that same, 



BUDDHISM. 21 

He who is invincible, whom no one in this world has power to 
restrain. 

Buddha, whose glance explores the Infinite. 

Buddha, the Trackless, what track shall lead you to behold 
him? 

He whom no lust can ensnare, whom none can allure to his 
soul's poison. 

The gods themselves envy those who never grow faint and 
weary of heart. . 

But rejoice in continual repose, full of remembrance the enlight- 
ened one's. 

Man's birth is full of trouble, and full of toil is his life also. 

Toilsome it is to hearken to true teaching, very toilsome is the 
beginning of true enlightenment. 

Not to do evil, to leave nothing good undone, to keep the 
course of our thought ever pure. 

This is commanded to Buddhas. 

The best prayer is patience, ever gentle. 

To Buddhas Nirvana is the name of that which is alone good. 

No tamer of his senses will he become who smites another. 

No penitent he who does harm to his neighbor. 

To refrain at all times from angry words, and never to do 
another injury. 

To observe temperance in eating and in sleeping on a lonely 
couch. 

To live in profoundest meditation, lo ! this is enjoined on the 
Buddhas. 

A shower of wealth will not suffice to our desires ; little joy 
will covetous desires bring thee, but many sorrows, and wise is 
he who understands this. 

Not even revelling with the gods will give joy to a truly wise 
man. 

He who is truly wise, rejoices only in this, that desire is dead 
within him. 

Men who are still enslaved to fear seek many ways of refuge. 

They flee to mountain and forest, and resort for shelter to 
sacred trees. 

But that is no sure sanctuary, the highest refuge it never is. 

Never will that man be freed from pain who chooses suchfor 
his refuge. 



22 APPENDIX. 

He who dutifully honors the men that are of quiet spirit and 
without fear. 

That is verily a good work, that can never be too highly 
esteemed. 

He who has put off sin is called good. 

He who leads a silent life. 

He who is free from self-love is called a tamer of the senses. 

He whose body, words and heart, are altogether without sin ; 
he who holds these three in rein, yea, him do I call good. 

He who has discerned the true meaning of the law of piety. 

Let him reverence it evermore. 

"What will jewelled hair profit thee, fool, or garments set with 
costly fur ? 

Unclean hast thou left thy heart, while decking thy outside. 

He who hast burst all fetters and trembles before nothing, the 
unshackled, the truly free, him do I call wise. 

The sage w T hose clear vision beholds high things, discerning the 
true path and the false path. 

Who has climbled to the heights of all things, him do I call a 
Brahmana. 

He who will not punish a beast that is weak, who will not strike 
or suffer others to strike one that is strong, him do I call a Brah- 
mana. 

He who when assailed does not resist, but speaks mildly to his 
tormentors. 

He who grudges nothing to those who grudge him all, him alone 
I call a Brahmana. 

He who has put from him desire and hatred, pride and 
hypocrisy. 

As a grain that flies from the point of an arrow, him do I call 
a Brahmana. 

He whose speech is gentle, truthful, and ever instructive. 

He who never utters a harsh word, him only do I call a 
Brahmana. 

He who strives not to obtain aught for himself, who never 
doubts after he has once perceived the truth, he who has come to 
know immortality, him alone do I call a Brahmana. 

He who is pure as the moon, whose even spirit naught can 
ruffle, who has quenched all lusts, him do I call a Brahmana. 



BUDDHISM. 23 

He who has cast behind him all lusts, and wanders harmless 
abroad. 

He who has quenched his lusts, him only do I call a Brahmana. 

The Noble one, standing like a stately bull, the Hero, the Seer, 
free from all lust, the Pure, the Wise, him only do I call a Brah- 
mana. 

The whole life and labors of this wonderful man are in perfect 
harmony He did not enter into open hostility with the estab- 
lished religion, as regards the ancient rites connected with the 
worship of fire. 

Buddha prescribes to every disciple and follower, certain initial 
commands, of which four are purely ethical, and the fifth a per- 
fectly general injunction to temperance. Here is the text: — 
I. Not to kill that which has life. 
II. Not to steal. 

III. Not to commit any unchaste act. 

IV. Not to lie. 

V. To drink no intoxicating liquor. 

Only in later times were these expanded into ten, and then into 
fifteen commandments, by the addition of precepts about externals. 
That he did not wish to have the third commandment obeyed after 
the fashion of Origen, is shown by a fine saying forming the 
twenty-ninth of his forty-two Theses. 

"If the spirit, which is the Master, be kept under control, it 
follows of itself that his servants will also be restrained. What 
does it avail if the power, but not the wish, to do wrong, be van- 
quished ? " 

How strongly he was opposed to bodily austerities is proved by 
this sentence in his first sermon : 

"He who desires to become an object of respect (Arya) must 
beware of two things, of sinful lusts, and of the bodily austerities 
of the Brahmans." 

Unregenerated, isolated, is every one who remains subject to his 
desires, whether he be a laymen or an Arya. The oldest compre- 
hensive formula of the Buddhist faith which has been found under 
an ancient Buddha pyramid in India, on innumerable inscriptions, 
and which regularly forms the conclusion of the sacred books, and 
in Ceylon, as well as in Burmah and Thibet, all, even women and 
children, know by heart, is this : 



24 APPENDIX. 

"The states of all beings which proceed from a cause, the cause 
thereof has the Blessed One declared ; what can heal these states 
has the Hermit also declared." 

"What we have translated States or Conditions is called in San- 
scrit, Dharma, in Pali, Dhamma; and signifies originally Law- 
Duty ; and in a secondary sense, that which exists as a legitimate, 
necessary consequence of a cause ; hence, a condition of being. If 
we ponder this simple aphorism we see that it involves the "four 
venerable Truths," which form the substratum, laid by Buddha's 
own hand, of the later metaphysical erections : — 

Existence is suffering (pain.) 

Suffering is seen to be the necessary consequence of causes. 

To this suffering an end ought to be put. 

To this end there is a means, and this also has Buddha taught. 

The Sutra of the Forty-two Sayings of Buddha. 

There are ten modes in which men may practice virtue, or 
contrariwise, vice. Of these ten vices, three have reference to the 
body, four to the speech, three to the mind. The three vices of 
the body are ; murder, theft, and unchastity. Those of speech are ; 
lying, talking nonsense, harsh words, false witness ; of the mind ; 
avarice, malice, stupid unbelief in the three precious truths, 
together with the cherishing of false opinions. 

When men have done many wrong things without feeling 
repentance, the fruit of the evil that they have gradually heaped 
together in themselves will come to ripeness ; just as rivers which 
are about to discharge themselves into the mighty ocean, and are 
already deep, spread themselves out wide so that they can with 
difficulty be crossed. In men who perceive when they have done 
wrong and then reform, the laws of virtue gather strength, and 
evil subsides more and more, so that they are able to come to the 
way of perfectness. 

When wicked men would fain do injury to good ones, it is as 
though they cast forth their spittle against heaven. Heaven can- 
not be defiled by their spittle, but only themselves. In like 
manner, when one tries to throw ashes upon another against the 
wind, and the dust cannot reach the other, but falls back on him 
who throws it ; so is he who shows no honor to the good himself, 
degraded by the fact that he wished to injure a good man. 



BUDDHISM. 95 

In the world there are twenty things which are difficult, viz : it 
is difficult to confer a gift when one is poor ; difficult to learn the 
way (the true religion of Buddha) when one is rich : difficult to 
renounce life through the power of the Spirit ; difficult to descry 
the law of the excellent doctrine ; difficult to be born again in the 
region where true Buddhas come into being ; difficult to have no 
desire when one has looked on something pleasant; difficult it is 
for the powerful not to make use of his power ; difficult not to be 
angry with those who revile us ; difficult to set about a work when 
one has no clear idea of it ; difficult to arrive at perfection, even 
when one has learned much about it ; difficult not to despise those 
who have learnt nothing; difficult to conquer self-seeking pride ; 
difficult to meet with a friend of virtue ; difficult to learn the w r ay, 
when one knows the self-will of one's own heart ; difficult to sus- 
tain a collision unmoved ; difficult to put in practice the means 
conformable to wisdom ; difficult to act in consonance with nature ; 
difficult to attain to equanimity ; difficult not to speak of that 
which has to be done and to be avoided. 

What is the highest virtue ! To keep one's feet in the way is 
the highest virtue. What is the chief greatness ? To act in 
accordance w T ith the laws of wisdom is the chief greatness. Who 
is the chief of the powerful ? He who, while he himself is full of 
toleration, commits no sinful act, men will assuredly honor. Who 
is pre-eminently enlightened? He who is without spot and pure, 
has no unrighteous courses, is wholly clean, .and who knows in 
every age, from the beginning of the world till now all that is to 
be found in all the ten regions, though it be unknown, invisible, 
quite unnoticed and unheard, without desiring the least thing for 
himself; such an one is to be called enlightened. 

A being whose soul is affected by passion, cannot perceive the 
way for his blinded eyes. If you throw five different colors into 
turbid waters, and then stir them up together, the persons who look 
therein will be unable to discern the reflection of their bodies. 
Just so, those whose souls are agitated and obscured by passion, are 
unable to discern the Way. Those, on the contrary, who, full of 
faith, confess the whole string of their faults, improve their ways 
and show kindness to the friends of virtue, will discern -the Way, 
just as a reflection becomes visible in water, so soon as it is cleansed 
from impurities. When the spots of the soul are wholly cleansed 
away, apprehension discovers whence she has come, and how she 



26 APPENDIX. 

has arisen, and toward what fields of Buddha she will travel after 
death, and at the same time she comes to perceive the virtues of 
the Way. 

When we gaze on the sky and the earth, we ought to reflect that 
^ they are not eternal. When we behold the hills and valleys, we 
ought to remember that they are not eternal. When we see th e 
form and figure of objects increase and expand, we ought to reflect 
that they are not eternal. If we think thus, we shall soon reach 
the Way. 

Although we attribute being to the elementary components of 
the body, yet have they nevertheless no real subsistence. For 
since their being ceases after a short time, and does not endure 
forever, they are like illusory semblances. 

It is with those beings who, impelled by passion, strive after 
glory, even as it is with the vapor of a smoker. When the 
vapor of the tobacco is perceived and diffused itself abroad, it 
cannot continue to subsist after the tobacco is consumed. So will 
those foolish persons who strive after the vain glory of the world, 
and do not labor to win the true glory, when they have obtained 
that which they seek for, be poor and a prey to regrets. 

Beauty and wealth are like honey on the edge of a knife. When 
ittle boys taste it, they wound their tongue and feel pain. 

He who yields himself to passion, is like a fool who takes a 
candle and walks against the wind. Unless he throw the candle 
away he will assuredly suffer smart by his hand being burnt. He 
who suffers himself to be carried away by lust, by anger, or by 
illusion, is forasmuch as he has not been beforehand enlightened 
by the Way, like unto those fools who, refusing to throw away 
heir candle, burn their hands and suffer severe pain. 

As a tree that has fallen into a river, if when swept by the 
current it does not touch either shore, if it be not caught up by 
men, or stopped in its course by good, or evil spirits, if moreover 
it do not lie in a stagnant pool, and do not decay, may actually 
come to reach the ocean ; even so I tell you, that men who, if 
they learn the Way, are not befooled by passion, nor seized by 
perverseness, who do not become unstable, but strive with earnest- 
ness, of a truth may attain the Way. 

Shramana ! trust not in your own hearts. We must in no 
wise trust to our own hearts. Exercise watchfulness ; do not be 
ensnared by beauty, else it will bring you sorrow. You must 



BUDDHISM. 27 

regard an old woman as a mother, those only a little older than 
yourself as elder sisters, those younger, as younger sisters. 

As one must run away with all speed if flame be kindled among 
dry grass, so must men who would learn the Way, cast far away 
from them all objects calculated to excite passion. 

If a man surrender himself to passion, it brings pain, and pain 
brings fear. If passion remain far from him, no pain springs up ; 
and if no pain, no fear. 

As iron when it has been smelted and purified, gradually 
wrought and refined by hammering, may be converted into all 
sorts of vessels, so also will those who are learning the Way, if 
their mind is gradually freed from all impurity, and if they sedu- 
lously exert themselves, no doubt attain to perfect insight. In the 
contrary case, they earn to themselves vexation ; from vexation 
springs tribulation, and under sharp tribulation they turn back 
from the Way, thus do they heap sinful actions one upon another. 

Both the men who walk in the way, and those who do not so, 
alike experience sorrow. It is indeed hard to measure how much 
suffering a being has to undergo from birth to old age, and then in 
old age from sickness till his death. But if the mind be bewildered 
through trouble, and have heaped sinful acts upon itself, then the 
sufferings that will befall him on account of all that he has done 
from his birth to his death, cannot be put in words. 

Shramanas ! as a laden ox that has fallen into a slough, in 
spite of all weariness, struggles out to one or the other side with- 
out ever thinking of rest, so must a right-minded man labor for 
nothing but the Way — seeing that the danger arising from the 
slough of passion is much more urgent — and avert from himself 
the pain of the cycle, [thus the " cycle " must be in this life.] 

Originally Buddhism was simple, ethical, and rational : and 
hence hostile to mythology, scholasticism, ceremonies, and priest- 
craft. It was benevolent and humane in the highest degree. It 
called all men, without any distinction of quality or position, to 
its fold, opening to all the way of salvation, which it teaches to 
be attainable by purity of conduct. " There is but one law for 
all : severe punishment for crime, and great reward for virtue." 
" My law is one of grace for all ; like heaven affording room for 
men and women, for boys and girls, for rich and poor." " It is 
difficult to be rich and learn the way." The total number of 
Buddhists is about 290,000,000. 



28 APPENDIX. 

Right view, right sense, right speech, right action, right position 
right energy, right memory, and right meditation. " Such is the 
formula of faith," found upon many monuments, as well as in 
many books. The essence of Buddhistic morality, is "to eschew 
every thing bad, to perform every thing good, to tame one's 
thoughts"— this the doctrine of Buddha. 

All the mythology, sacrifices, penances, hierarchy, scholasticism, 
mysticism, which we find connected with it, have been super- 
added in progress of time, in different countries, and under 
manifold circumstances. A general love of all beings is its 
nucleus ; each animal being our neighbor or possibly relative. To 
love even our enimies, to offer our lives for animals, to abstain 
even from defensive warfare, to gain the greatest of victories by 
conquering oneself, to avoid all vices, to practise of humility and 
mildness, to be obedient to superiors, to cherish and respect 
parents, old age, learning, virtuous and holy men, to provide food, 
shelter, and comfort for men, and animals, to plant trees on the 
roads, dig wells, &c. — such are the moral duties of Buddhists. No 
religion is despised by them, religious wars waged against dis- 
senters have never been heard of among them. " Honor your own 
faith, and do not slander that of others," is a Buddhistic maxim. 
The persecutions of Christians in Japan, China, Siam, &c, are 
occasioned by other than religious causes, being commonly reprisals 
against their intermeddling habits. How different from the 
history of Christianity. 

The Burmese. 

The following contains the main features of the Theology and 
religious precepts which have been taught among the Burmese 
for the last twenty-five hundred years. 

The Burmese Empire comprises the tract of territory bounded 
on the south by the Indian Ocean, on the east by the kingdom of 
Siam, on the west by Bengal, and on the north by the kingdom of 
Azen, and the Chinese Empire. It includes not only the kingdom 
of Ava, but likewise those of Pegu, and Aracan, together with the 
pretty states of Martaban, Sarvai, Merghi. 

According to the sacred books and traditions of the Burmese. 
four Gods have at different periods appeared in the present world, 
and have obtained the state of Neban ; Chaucasen, Gonagon, 



THE BURMESE. 29 

Gaspar and Godama. It is claimed by the Burmese Theology 
that the law of the last mentioned, (to wit, Godama,) is at present 
obligatory among men. He obtained the privilege of divinity at 
the age of thirty-five, when he began to promulgate his laws, in 
which employment he spent forty-five years. Having thus lived 
to the age of eighty in the practice of every good work, and 
having conferred salvation on every living creature, he was 
assumed into the state of Niban. From that time to the year 
1763, there have passed two thousand three hundred and six 
years. 

Godama spoke and taught as follows: " I, a God, after having 
departed out of this world, will preserve my laws and my disciples 
in it for the space of five thousand years." Having likewise 
commanded that his statue and relics should be carefully kept, 
and adored during this period, he thereby gave rise to the custom 
of adoring them. 

The books, which contain the history of Godama, represent 
him as a king, who having laid aside the ensigns of royalty, 
withdrew himself into a solitary place, put on the habit of a 
Talapoin, and gave himself up to the study and practice of virtue. 

His merits, united to his present generous abdication, procured 
for him at the age of thirty, the gift of divine wisdom. This 
consists in seeing into the thoughts of all living beings, in the 
foreknowledge of all future events, however distant they may be, 
in the knowledge of the merits and demerits of all men ; in the 
power of working miracles particularly by causing fire and water 
to issue from his eyes at the same time, or fire from one eye and 
water from the other ; and finally in a tender love toward all 
things living. Among other prodigies related of him, we may 
notice the one said to have happened at his birth ; for he was no 
sooner born than he walked seven paces towards the north, 
exclaiming ; " I am the noblest and greatest among men. This is 
the last time that I shall be born ; never again shall I be conceived 
in the womb." 

During the forty-five years that he spent on earth after becoming 
a God, he was continually employed in the promulgation of his 
laws, and it is said that through his preaching, 2,400,000,000 
persons obtained the Niban. 

Previous to his death, he recommended that his statue and relics 
should be preserved and adored. 



30 APPENDIX. 

These have hence become objects of veneration to all the 
Burmese, wherever they are met with ; but they are more par- 
ticularly worshipped, with greater pomp and by greater numbers 
in the Pagodas. These are pyramidal or conical buildings, made of 
brick, painted and gilded on the outside. 

In these temples there is generally a niche in which is placed 
the statue of Godama, though in some, both the niche and the 
statue are wanting. These are the public places of adoration for 
the Burmese, and are generally set apart from all other buildings, 
and surrounded by a wall of the same materials as the Pagoda 
itself. 

But the laws of Godama will be observed upon earth for the 
space of five thousand years, reckoning from the day of his death, 
five hundred and twenty years before Christ ; from which year 
therefore the Burmese begin their era. Of this period two 
thousand three hundred and ninety years have already elapsed. 
As soon as it is at an end, the law T s of Godama will cease to be 
binding, and another God must appear to promulgate a new code 
for the government of mankind. 

The principal duties of the Talapoins, or priests, is the Tera, or 
preaching to the people ; and that in the performance of this 
duty, they ought to propose as their model the sermons of Godama. 
The book which contains them is called Sottan, or the rule of life, 
and is one of the principal works which the Burmese possess. 

The following is the best of the, so-claimed, true faith. 

Is Godama the only true God in the world ? 

Yes, Godama is the only true and real God, who knows the laws 
of the four Sizza, and in whose power it is to raise to the state of 
Niban. 

For a thousand years beforehand, the approaching appearance 
of a new God was reported ; but previous to his coming, six 
different pretenders, each with five hundred disciples, started up, 
and gave themselves out for Gods. 

Did these false Gods preach and teach any laws ? 

Yes, but what they taught is false and full of errors. 

But when the true God, Godama, appeared, did these false Gods 
renounce their doctrines ? 

Some renounced and some did not ; and many have remained 
obstinate to the present day. When Godama saw that many 
persisted in their errors, he gave a challenge to them all, who 



THE BURMESE. 31 

could work the greatest miracle under a mango tree. It was 
accepted, but Godama gained the victory, at which the chief of 
the Deitti was so vexed, that he threw himself into a river with 
an earthenware vessel tied about his neck. After the death of 
their leader many of his disciples abandoned his false doctrines, 
but others remained obstinate : for it is easy to draw a thorn out 
of the hand or foot by means of the nails or the megnac, but it is 
very difficult to eradicate false doctrine from the hearts of the 
Deitti. 

But are there no means of doing it ? 

Yes, it may be done by the doctrine of Godama, and by the 
lessons of good men ; which are like a megnac, of great excellence. 

And what are these lessons and doctrines ? 

First, that all who kill animals or do any thing contrary to the 
ten commandments, are subject to the punishments allotted to evil 
deeds. Then that those who give alms and practise the ten good 
deeds, adore God, the law, and the Talapoins, will enjoy the 
blessings attached to the performance of good works. Secondly, 
that these two kinds of works, the good and the bad, and these 
alone accompany a man through his transmigration in future 
worlds, in the same way as a shadow follows the body to which it 
belongs ; and that these are the efficient causes of all the good and 
evil that happen to living beings, in this life or in the next ; of 
high and. low birth; of riches and poverty; of transportation to 
the seats of the Nat, and of condemnation to the state of animals 
or to hell. These, together with the following, are the revelations 
made, and the precepts taught by Godama. According to the 
species of their bad works, the wicked are condemned to punish- 
ment. These species are four, according to the Burmese sacred 
books. One is called grievous, the other three are venial. 

To kill one's own mother or father, to kill a priest or Talapoin, 
to strike or wound any God, as Beodat did who threw a stone 
against the Godama, and to sow discord among Talapoins, are the 
five sins that constitute the grievous class ; for which the wicked 
will have to suffer fire and other dreadful torments, in one of the 
greater hells, the whole duration of a world. 

This species of sins is called the first, because it is the first to 
produce its effect : for although the individual, who has committed 
one of these five sins, may have done many good deeds, yet he 



32 APPENDIX. 

cannot receive the reward, till after this first species is expiated, 
by his having paid the penalty of that great sin. 

After this class come all sins of habit ; which although in them- 
selves light, are nevertheless, on account of the evil habit, con- 
sidered as punishable in the greater hells. The fourth and last 
species comprises all evil desires, and these are expiated, not in 
the greater hells but in the minor ones that surround them. 

All passionate, quarrelsome, fraudulent and cruel men, all who 
in their deeds, words or desires, are either dishonest or lascivious, 
will be cut to pieces after death, in one of the greater hells with 
instruments of burning iron, and afterwards exposed to the most 
severe cold; and the parts cut off returning again to their former 
state, will be a second time cut off, and exposed to the same cold, 
and in these alternate torments, they will pass five hundred infer- 
nal years. 

All those who by signs or words insult their relatives or masters, 
priests, old men, or observers of the law, and all who with nets or 
snares kill animals, will be condemned to one of the greater hells, 
there to be tormented upon a fiery bed, by continual lacerations 
with red-hot wire, and by being sawn with fiery scythes into eight 
or sixteen pieces, for the course of one thousand infernal years. 

Whoever does not assist his fellow creatures, those who, in a 
.■?tate of intoxication commit unlawful and indecent actions, they 
who dishonor or ill-treat others, will have their bowels burnt up, 
by a flame entering through their mouths ; and this punishment 
will last four thousand infernal years. 

Whoever takes away furtively or by deception, fraud, or open 
force the property of others, such ministers and judges as receive 
bribes for deciding suits unjustly, mandarins and generals that 
desolate the enemy's lands, all who cheat by false scales, weights, 
or measures, or who in any way appropriate to themselves the 
goods of others, as well as all who steal or damage things belong- 
ing to priests and to Pagodas, etc. all such will be tormented in 
one of the greater hells, by fire and smoke ; which penetrating 
through the eyes and mouth and all the other inlets of the body, 
will burn them alive for the course of eight thousand infernal 
years. 

Those who sell wines or poisons, or set fire to villages, cities or 
woods, in order to destroy animals, those who with poison or arms, 
or enchantments cause men to perish ; all these after death, being 



THE BURMESE. 33 

hurled headlong from a very high mountain, will be received on 
the point of a red hot spit, and cut in pieces by the infernal 
ministers with swords and spears : and this punishment will last 
sixteen thousand infernal years. 

All who honor not their parents, masters and old men ; all who 
drink wine or other inebriating liquors ; all who corrupt the 
waters of lakes or wells, or break up the roads ; all dishonest 
dealers; they who speak bitterly and impatiently, or beat with their 
hands or with sticks ; those who despise the counsel of honest men, 
and afflict their neighbor ; evil-speakers, detractors, the passionate 
and e,nvious; such as injure others, or torment them by putting them 
in chains ; all who in word, deed, or desire are guilty of evil ; 
lastly, those w T ho afflict the sick with harsh words will be con- 
demned to these minor places of punishment, to be there tortured, 
in proportion to the heinousness of their offences and evil habits. 
Besides these hells, there is another, consisting of an immense caul- 
dron, full of melted copper, to ascend and descend which from one 
surface to the other, requires three thousand years. To this task 
are condemned the lascivious, that is to say, those who violate the 
wives, daughters or sons of others ; and those who through life 
despising acts of charity and the observance of holidays, give them- 
selves up to drunkenness and excess. Those equilateral spaces full 
of very cold water, are also, according to the Burmese books so 
many hells ; to which are condemned all who offend or insult their 
parents or the observers of the law. 

Every one may gain merit or demerit, according to his works, 
and so pass to a superior or inferior situation. 

Rape, highway robbery, murder, and arson are considered the 
principal capital offences. 

False witnesses, who assert anything from passion, and not from 
love of truth ; (and those who affirm what they have neither seen 
nor heard), are severely punished with death. 

Every species of good works, such as alms-deeds, chastity, 
charity, kindness, diligence, patience, justice, magnanimity, love 
and moderation, is enjoined, all who adore God and the law, will 
enjoy the blessings attached to the performance of good works. 

Good and bad works accompany a man through future worlds, 
and are the efficient causes of all the good and evil that happen 
to living beings in this life, or in the next. 



34 APPENDIX. 

We are forbidden to kill any living thing, to steal; to violate the 
wives or concubines of another; to tell lies or to deceive; and to use 
wine, opium, or any intoxicating liquor — also, to covet our neigh- 
bor's goods, to envy, and to wish misfortune or death to others. 

Whosoever abstains from all these evil deeds will increase in 
virtue, till, at length, he will obtain the perfect happiness of Niban. 

Admit of no unlawful act, even though it be sought to be com- 
mitted in secret ; by the observance of which, a man is preserved 
from evil-doing. 

Searching after the means, by which the hearts of creatures may 
put off all evil inclinations. 

Thee, therefore, do we supplicate, who alone knowest all these 
things to reveal them to us. 

To whom the God replied, know, that to keep far from the com- 
pany of the ignorant; to be always in the society of the learned; 
and to give respect and honor to whom they are due ; overcoming 
any inordinate affection ; by the choice of a place of abode proper 
to one's station, and adapted for satisfying all the common wants 
of life ; by having always in store, some merit acquired in a for- 
mer life ; and by ever maintaining in one's own person a prudent 
carriage ; the comprehension of all things that are not evil ; the 
knowledge of the duties of one's state of life ; and the observance 
of piety and modesty in words ; these are most excellent means by 
which we may renounce all wicked actions. 

By ministering to one's father and mother proper sustenance, 
by providing for one's wife and children, by the purity and 
honesty of every action ; by alms-deeds, by the observance of divine 
precepts; by succoring in their necessities those who are united to 
us by the ties of kindred ; by everything else in which there is no 
sin ; by all these means may we be preserved from evil deeds. 

By such a freedom from all faults, that not even the inferior 
part of the soul manifest any affection for them, by the abstinence 
from all intoxicating drinks ; by the never-failing practice of works 
of piety ; by showing respect to all ; by being humble before all; by 
.sobriety ; by gratitude to our benefactors : and finally by listening 
from time to time to the preaching of the word of God ; by these 
means may we overcome our inclinations, and keep ourselves from 
sin. 

The virtue of patience ; docility in receiving the admonitions of 
good men ; frequent visits to priests; spiritual conferences on the 



THE BURMESE. 35 

divine laws ; frugality and modesty in our exterior ; the observance 
of the letter of the law ; having ever before our eyes the state into 
which living creatures will pass after death; and finally, the media- 
tion of the happy reposes of the Niban, these are all distinguished 
precepts for preserving man from wickedness. 

That intrepidity and serenity of mind, which good men preserve 
amid the calamities of life, in abundance and want, in censure and 
praise, in joy and distress, in popularity and abandonment ; the 
absence of all fear or inquietude of heart ; the freedom from the 
dark mist of concupiscence : these are rare gifts that remove a man 
far away from all affection to evil. 

Imprint well upon your heart the precepts I have just delivered; 
let them be deeply rooted there, and see to put them in executiou, 
also hospitality to our guests, and to travellers, ministering to the 
wants of the sick, and in times of scarcity to those of all persons. 

But all these are surpassed in merit by the adoration of God and 
the law. 

Godama confirmed all these his precepts, and added that the 
real adoration of God does not consist in offering him rice, flowers 
or sandal wood, but in the observance of his laws. 

All who aspire to perfection must be careful to avoid the works 
which do hurt to living creatures ; by thus flying away from evil, 
and ever seeking to acquire merit in this life, as well as in future 
ones, they will at length attain to the Niban. 

The words that do hurt to living creatures, are murder, theft, 
deceit and adultery. 

All those committed by judges, when on account of presents, 
consanguinity or friendship, they decide unjustly, when through 
hatred to the party who has reason on his side ; they pronounce 
against him, and finally when through fear or respect of persons, 
as of mandarins, or rich, or powerful men, they commit injustice. 
Those offenders also, are here comprised, who do not divide pro- 
perty equally as they ought, through love, fear or hatred. 

Besides this, a man must refrain from the things that are called 
ruinous; which are, the love of intoxicating liquors, the custom 
of wandering about the streets at unseasonable hours, too great a 
passion for dancing, games and spectacles, gaming, frequenting 
vicious company, lastly, slothfulness and negligence in the per- 
formance of one's duty. 

For from these spring six great evils. 



86 APPENDIX. 

Drunkenness is the cause of loss of goods and reputation, of 
quarrels, diseases, immodesty of dress, disregard of honor ; unsea- 
sonable wanderings expose a man to great dangers, and by keeping 
him from his family, oblige him to leave the chastity of his wife 
and daughter unprotected ; and moreover, his possessions are thus 
liable to depredations. 

A passion for shows draws a man from his occupation, and hin- 
ders him from gaining his livelihood. 

In gaming, success is followed by intrigues and quarrels ; loss, by 
bitterness and sorrow of heart ; as well as dilapidation of fortune ; 
the gamester is incapacitated by law to give testimony. 

Finally, frequenting the company of the vicious will lead a man 
into the houses of women of ill-fame, into drunkenness and glut- 
tony, into deceit and robbery, and all kinds of disorders. 

Godama denounced the following : making show of friendship 
without having its reality, professing a love which they do not feel, 
giving little, that they may receive much, and being friends to a 
man only because he is rich, or because they have need of his favor. 

Real friends, are those who are such both in adversity and pros- 
perity ; those who give good advice on proper occasions, even at 
the peril of their lives ; those who take care of things that belong 
to him whom they love ; those who teach a man what is good, who 
are delighted in his prosperity, and sorrowful in his misfortunes. 

Children are in particular obliged to respect their parents, and 
to listen to their words and advice. 

Parents on the other hand with respect to their children, must 
keep them far from all wickedness, procure that they always have 
good companions, they must instruct them, and teach them to give 
alms, and do other pious works, and when they have arrived at 
the proper age, be careful to marry them. 

The husband should speak to his wife respectfully, should not 
ill-treat her, should not desert her to live with another woman. 

A master should adapt the labors of his slaves to their strength 
and capacities, should give them their maintenance, should treat 
them well, but particularly be attentive to them when sick. 

Slaves should look to the interests of their masters in their 
labors, and take nothing but what is allowed them. 

We should divide our goods and share them with the poor ; for 
the poor are our companions in the journey to a future life. Alms 
done by a poor man is of greater merit than of a rich one. 



THE BURMESE. 37 

The only faithful companions who will not desert us in the life 
to come, are our good deeds ; and the only good that will continue 
with us unaltered even to old age, is the observance of the law, for 
this no thief can take away. 

Godama exhorts to lay aside every sentiment of pride ; not to 
let the affections be occupied by this world , not to give ourselves 
up to the pleasures of sense, but to aspire to Niban alone. Having 
what is sufficient to satisfy our hunger to-day, we should not think 
of to-morrow ; and that having one coat, we should not wish for 
another. 

He admonishes not to look upon indecent objects, not to listen to 
lascivious song, not to give way to murmuring, not to exceed in 
the pleasures of the palate and to restrain the hands from unlawful 
touches, and to observe modesty in our exterior. 

Those who pride themselves in their birth, or in their possessions 
can never reach to the Niban. All must observe modesty in their 
five bodily senses; they must not run after feasts and such vanities; 
they must not make use of any species of vain and idle words; they 
must not take delight in thinking of anything unlawful; they must 
extinguish in themselves all evil inclinations; they must not be 
scrupulous and irresolute in acting ; they must, above all things be 
assiduous in prayer and meditation : they must not seek after mag- 
nificence and superfluity ; they must fly from sloth, lying, immod- 
erate laughter, vain joy, and play; they must abhor sorcery, and 
not give credit to dreams ; when abused or derided, they must not 
give way to anger, and when praised, must not be puffed up ; they 
must not envy others their dress ; they must not flatter benefactors 
to draw T alms from them, nor preach sermons in which they display 
their desire of them ; they must not admit of any bitterness or acri- 
mony in talking, nor deride, nor despise, nor injure others; they 
ought to accommodate themselves to the opinions of others not to 
give occasion for dissension ; ought never to consent to any bad 
thoughts ; and he who does consent to them, and take pleasure in 
them, shows that he has no fear of sinning, and is therefore in a 
state of sinful cowardice. 

But he who does not consent to such thoughts, truly seeks after 
sanctity. 

All are once more recommended to shun vanity, to observe mod- 
esty, and to consider that good works are our only hopes and our 
only true friends, and thus the heart wilfbe fixed in doing all that 
is good. 



38 APPENDIX. 

He who speaks sweetly and with affability will have many 
friends ; but he whose words are bitter will have few or none. 

In judging causes, the testimony of persons respectable by their 
state in life, and their wisdom, disinterested, and who believe in 
the merit of good works ; ought to be received. 

If a husband surprise a man in adultery with his wife, he may 
lawfully kill him. 

The Hindoos. 

In the following, will be found the main features of Hindu the- 
ology and religious teachings. 

The Vedas, which are the Hindu Scriptures, and of which there 
are four, the Eig, Yagust, Saman, and Atharvan, are asserted to 
have been revealed by Brahma. 

They are based upon an acknowledgment of a universal Spirit 
pervading all things. Of this God they therefore necessarily 
acknowledge the unity : " There is in truth but one Deity, the 
Supreme Spirit, the Lord of the universe, whose work is the uni- 
verse. The God above all gods, who created the earth, the hea- 
vens, the waters." 

These scriptures convey the idea that there is a pervading spirit 
existing every where of the same nature as the soul of man, though 
differing from it infinitely in degree. 

As to the relation between the Supreme Being and man, the soul 
is a portion or particle of that all-pervading principle, the Univer- 
sal Intellect or Soul of the World. 

The three Vedic divinities, Agni, Indra, and Surga are not to be 
looked upon as existing independently, for all spirits are compre- 
hended in the Universal Soul. They do not authorize the wor- 
ship of deified men, nor of images, nor of any visible forms. They 
admit the adoration of subordinate spirits, as those of the planets. 
They inculcate universal charity — charity even to an enemy : — 
"The tree doth not withdraw its shade from the wood-cutter." 
In the Institutes of Menu, a code of civil and religious law, written 
about the ninth century before Christ, though like Vedas, betray- 
ing a gradual origin, the doctrine of the Divine unity becomes more 
distinctly mixed up with Pantheistic ideas. They present a descrip- 
tion of creation, of the nature of God and the soul, and contain 
prescribed rules for the duty of man in every station of life, from 



THE HINDOOS. 39 

the moment of birth to death. Their imperious regulations in all 
these minute details are a sufficient proof of the great development 
and paramount power to which the priesthood had now attained ; 
but their morality is discreditable. Their abitrary and all-reach- 
ing spirit reminds one of the Papal system ; their recommendations 
to sovereigns, their authorization of immoralities, recall the state of 
Italian society as reflected in the worts of Machiavelli. They hold 
learning in the most signal esteem, but concede to the prejudices of 
the illiterate in a worship of the Gods with burnt offerings of clari- 
fied butter and libations of the juices of plants. They make a 
Brahman the chief of all created things. 

In their essential principles the Institutes follow the Vedas, 
though, as must be the case in every system intended for men in 
the various stages of intellectual progress from the least advanced 
to the highest, they show a leaning toward popular delusions. 

A new ritual, instead of the Vedas, has come into use, these 
scriptures being the eighteen Puranas, composed between the 
eighth and sixteenth centuries. They contain theogonies, accounts 
of the creation, philosophical speculations, fragmentary history, 
and may be brought to support any sectarian view, having never 
been intended as one general body, but they are received as incon- 
trovertible authority. In the " Baghavat Gita," the text book of 
the modern school, the sole essential for salvation is dependence 
on some particular teacher, which makes up for everything else. 
The efficacy which is thus ascribed to faith, and the facility with 
which sin may be expiated by penance, has led to great mental 
perversion and superstition, which finds its analogy in the Roman 
Church, and somewhat in all the churches where faith in the 
Divinity of Christ is held as indispensable to salvation. 

Christna or Chrisna, also Vishnu, is one of the most popular of 
all the Hindoo deities. An immense number of legends are told 
respecting him, which are not worth recording here, but the follow- 
ing, condensed from the Anacalypsis of Godfrey Higgins, will well 
repay perusal. He is represented as the son of Brahma and Maia, 
and is usually called " the Saviour," or " the Preserver." He, 
being a god, became incarnate in the flesh. As soon as he was 
born, he was saluted by a chorus of devatars or angels. His birth 
place was Mathurea. He was cradled amongst Shepherds. Soon 
after his birth he was carried away by night to a remote place for 
fear of a tyrant, whose destroyer it was foretold he would become, 



40 APPENDIX. 

and who ordered all male children to be slain (an episode marked 
in the sculptures at Elephanta). By the male line he was of Royal 
descent, though born in a dungeon, which on his arrival he illumi- 
nated, whilst the face of his parents shone. Christna spoke as soon 
as he was born, and comforted his mother. He was preceded by his 
brother Ram, who helped him to purify the world of monsters and 
demons. Christna descended into Hades, and returned to Vaicon- 
tha. One of his names is " the good shepherd." An Indian pro- 
phet, Nared Saphos, or wisdom, visited him, consulted the stars* 
and pronounced him a celestial being. Christna cured a leper ; a 
woman poured on his head a box of ointment, and he cured her of 
disease. He was chosen king amongst his fellow cowherds. He 
washed the feet of Brahmins, and when Brahma stole the sheep 
and cowboys of his father's farm (Nanda's) Christna made a new 
set. Christna had a dreadful fight with the serpent Caluga. He 
was sent to -a tutor, whom he astonished with his learning. — 
Christna was crucified, went into hell, and afterwards into heaven. 

Christina and his mother are almost always represented as 
black. Christna's statue in the temple at Mathura is black, and 
the temple is built in the form of a cross (Ptolemy calls the place 
Matura Deorum.) As Vishnu he is painted with a Parthian 
coronet round his head when crucified. As Wittoba he is painted 
sometimes with stigmata in his hands, sometimes in his feet, and 
one of the pictures representing him has a round hole in the side ; 
to his collar hangs a heart, and on his head is a Linga yoni ! In 
another picture he is called Ballaji, and is contending with a 
seven-headed cobra. His most celebrated temple is at Terputty. 
The date of Christna's first mystic birth is about six hundred B. C. 

Of the deities of the Veda, Agni and Indra, the former com- 
prises the element of Fire under three aspects. 1st. As it exists 
on earth, not only as culinary or religious fire, but in the heat of 
digestion and of life and the vivifying principle of vegetation ; 
2d. As it exists in the atmosphere, or mid- heaven, in the form of 
lightning ; and 3d. As it is manifested in the heavens, as light, 
the sun, the dawn, and the planetary bodies. 

The deification of Indra is more consistent, as he has no 
incongruous functions to discharge. He is a personification of 
the phenomena of the firmament, particularly in the capacity of 
sending down rain. This property is metaphorically described as 
a conflict with the clouds which are reluctant to part with their 



THE HINDOOS. 41 

watery stores, until assailed and penetrated by the thunderbolt 
of Indra. 

The Sun, Surya or Savita, occupies a much less conspicuous 
place in Hindu worship, than we should have anticipated from 
the visible magnificence of that luminary, and his adoration by 
neighboring nations. 

The sun, like Agni and Indra, is the giver of temporal blessing 
to his worshippers ; he is the source of light. 

The share of Agni and Indra in the production of rain, aud 
their fierce and impetuous nature, are figurative representations of 
physical phenomena. 

The following is contained in the Hindu Sacred Writings. 

In the beginning there arose the source of golden light. He 
was the one born Lord of all that is. He 'stablished the earth 
and this sky. 

He who gives life, He who gives strength ; whose command all 
the bright gods revere ; whose shadow is immortality. 

He who through his power is the one King of the breathing and 
awaking world ; He who governs all, man and beast ; Who is the 
God to whom we shall offer our worship ? 

He who by His might looked even over the water-clouds, the 
clouds which gave strength and lit the sacrifice, He who alone is 
God above all gods; Who is the God to whom we shall offer our 
worship ? 

May He not destroy us — He the creator of the earth ; or He 
the Righteous, who created the heaven ; He who also created the 
bright and mighty waters; Who is the God to whom we shall 
offer our worship ? 

All who are wise of heart adore God the Begetter, bringing him 
offerings of a devout heart with hymn of praise. 

The air all around is full of the whispering of the wind, thy 
breath. Those who are wise, the truthful seers, the ministers of 
sacrifice, who raise on high the hymn of praise to thee. Even to 
evil-doers is he merciful; may we all live before thee without sin, 
faithfully observant of thy eternal laws. 

However we break thy laws from day to day, men as we are 
OGod. 

Do not deliver us unto death, nor to the blow of the furious ; nor 
to the anger of the spiteful ! 

May he, the wise, make our paths straight all our days; may 
he prolong our lives ! 



42 APPENDIX. 

The gqjl, whom the scoffers do not provoke, nor the tormentors 
of men, nor the plotters of mischief. 

Yearning for him, the far seeing, my thoughts move onwards, as 
kine move to their pastures. 

Be pure and pious all, that your way may not go down to the 
house of death, but that you may enjoy length of days, and 
abundance of treasures. 

As days succeed days, changing seasons, with seasons, lo, give, 
Creator, these here to live, that the younger may not leave their 
parent desolate. 

God's coursers bear on high the divine Sun that he may be seen 
by all (the worlds.) 

(At the approach) of the all- illuminating Sun, the constella- 
tions depart, with the night. 

With that light with which thou, the purifier and defender from 
evil, lookest upon this creature-bearing world. 

Indra abides, humbling the neglecters of holy acts in favor of 
those who observe them, and punishing those who turn away from 
his worship, in favor of those who are present (with their praise.) 

This adoration is offered to the shedder of rain, the self- 
resplendent, the possessor of true vigor, the mighty. 

Verily, with thy bulk, thou fillest ail the firmament : of a truth 
there is none other such as thou. 

May the gods, turning not away, be ever with us for our 
advancement. 

May the benevolent favor of the gods (be ours :) may the 
bounty of the gods, ever approving of the upright, light upon 
us ; may we obtain the friendship of the gods. 

Let us hear gods, with our ears, what is good objects of worship, 
let us see, with our eyes what is good : let us engage in your 
praises. 

These divinities of the morning have spread light (over the 
world.) 

The deities of the dawn have restored, as of yore, the conscious- 
ness of (sentient creatures,) and bright-rayed, have attended upon 
the glorious sun, bringing every kind of food to the performer of 
good works. 

Ushas cuts off the accumulated (glooms.) The daughter of the 
sky awaits the glorious sun. 



THE HINDOOS. 43 

We have crossed over the boundary of darkness. Ushas restores 
the consciousness (of living beings.) Bright-shining, she smiles, 
like a flatterer to obtain favor, and lovely in all her radiance, she 
has swallowed for our delight the darkness. 

May he, of whom the excellent measure (of all things,) through 
strength, eternally and every where cherishes heaven and earth, 
propitiated by our acts, convey us beyond evil. 

Ushas, endowed with truth, let the worker of iniquity depart, 
for we shall overcome him with our chariot, through thy assistance. 

Let words of truth be spoken ; let works of wisdom (be per- 
formed.) 

At thy dawning, (Ushas,) the various birds rise up from their 
nests, and men who have to earn their bread quit their homes, be 
glorified by this (my) hymn ; graciously disposed towards us, 
augment (our prosperity ;) and may we obtain goddesses, through 
your favor, a hundred and a thousand fold. 

These wonderful (rewards) verily are for those who give (pious) 
donations : for the donors of (pious) gifts the suns shine in 
heaven : the g:vers of (pious) donations attain immortality : the 
givers of (pious) gifts prolong their (worldly) existence. 

May those who propitiate (the gods,) never commit degrading 
sin : may those who praise the gods and observe holy vows, never 
experience decay. 

Agni, who gives pleasure (to his worshippers,) being pleased 
(himself,) in like manner as men follow a path that leads to 
happiness, who is the guardian of all these treasures, has power 
(to distribute them.) 

Agni grants blessings to every (pious) worshipper and opens for 
him the gates (of heaven.) 

Agni is a most amiable friend in human infirmity ; the beloved 
protector of all, he preserves us from the malignity of sin. 

Inasmuch as the hero, Indra, rightly judges men by their deeds, 
therefore do the (pious ;) (men) worship him, that by their own 
strength they may overcome (their foes.) 

The timid and anxious (worshipper) praises thee, who art 
auspicious, for driving (away) thieves ; for thou defendest (us) 
from all beings, (as the reward) of our righteousness ; thou 
protectest us from the fear of evil spirits, (as the reward) of our 
righteousness. 



44 APPENDIX. 

Whatever individual offers adoration preserve him entirely 
unharmed from sin ; (preserve, from sin the mortal who is sincere 
in his devotion, who offers worship with praises. 

Desirous of happiness, I adore him, whose protection is ever 
nigh ; who is the source of felicity ; who, when devoutly wor- 
shipped, blends with the thoughts of all (his worshippers :) 
(though) a deity. 

Free from anger, and entitled to ample praise, be ever accessible 
to us ; be our leader in every encounter. 

Agni, listen attentively when thou art praised, by us, and repeat 
(those praises) to the gods who are entitled to worship ; to the 
royal (deities) entitled to worship. 

Bestow, Agni, upon our excellent patron a boat ever fitted with 
oars, (one that may render) our posterity prosperous, and may 
bear mankind across (the ocean of life) to felicity. 

He, the searcher, the accessible, has declared to mortals (the 
knowledge of) their religious duties. 

He who is visible to all, is the parent of that (pious) progeny. 

He, who is, as it were, the generator of men as well as of heaven 
and earth, of whom creation has imbibed life, abides with his 
glories. 

(I ask thee to withhold thy favor) from those who, acknowledging 
thee not as his lord, is chary of gifts, and from him who rarely 
praises (the gods.) 

He amongst those (who are your followers,) who observes truth, 
who is considerate, who is commended by the wise. 

The purpose of worshipping you, is not the performance, but 
(even by so much) I may attain to your glory, and there is 
acquittance (of my duty.) 

May I attain his favorite path, in which God-seeking men 
delight ; (the path) in whose exalted station there is a (perpetual) 
flow of felicity. 

I glorify the mighty Heaven and Earth, those two, who, cherish- 
ing their worshippers as children 

Verily I propitiate, by my invocations, the mind of the 
benevolent father, and the great and spontaneous (affection) of 
the mother (of all beings :) The parents, with kindness, have 
secured, by their excellent protections, the vast and manifold 
immortality of their progeny. 



THE HINDOOS. 45 

These, your children, the performers of good works, and of 
goodly appearance, recognize you as their great parents, through 
experience of former (kindness) preserve uninterrupted stability 
in the functions of your progeny, whether stationary or moving, 
(depending for existence) on none other than you. 

Heaven and Earth, are the diffusers of happiness on all, encour- 
agers of truth. 

I have beheld the Lord of Men with seven sons ; of which 
delightful and benevolent (deity) who is the object of our invoca- 
tion. 

Who has seen the primeval (being) at the time of his being born? 

Ignorant, I enquire of the sages who know (the truth ;) not as 
one knowing (do I enquire,) for the sake of (gaining) knowledge i 
what is that One alone, who has upheld these six spheres in the 
form of the unborn. 

Let him who knows this (truth) quickly declare it; the 
mysterious condition of the beautiful ever-moving (sun :) the 
rays shed (their) milk from his exalted head, investing his form 
with radiance : they have drunk up the water by the paths (by 
which they were poured forth.) 

The mother (earth,) worships the father, (sun) with holy rites, for 
the sake of water ; but he has anticipated (her wants) in his mind: 

Miiller says : the idea of revelation, and we mean more particu- 
larly book-revelation, is not a modern idea, nor is it an idea 
peculiar to Christianity. 

Though we look for it in vain in the literature of Greece and 
Rome, we find the literature of India saturated with this idea from 
beginning to end. In no country we believe, has the theory of 
revelation been so minutely elaborated as in India. 

According to the orthodox views of Indian theologians not a sin- 
gle line of Veda was the work of human authors. The whole 
Veda is in some way or other the work of the Deity ; and even 
those who received the revelation, or, as they express it, those who 
saw it, were not supposed to be ordinary mortals, but beings raised 
above the level of common humanity, and less liable, therefore, to 
error in the reception of revealed truth. The views entertained of 
revelation by the orthodox theologians of India are far more 
minute and elaborate than those of the most extreme advocates of 
verbal inspiration in Europe. The human element, called " pau- 
rusheyatva, " in Sanscrit, is driven out of every corner or hiding 



46 APPENDIX. 

place ; and as the Veda is held to have existed in the mind of the 
Deity before the beginning of time, every allusion to historical 
events, of which there are not a few, is explained away with a zeal 
and ingenuity worthy of a better cause. 

The poets of the Veda speak of their hymns as " god-given." 
One poet says: "0 god (Indra) have mercy! Sharpen my mind, 
like the edge of iron. Whatever I now may utter, longing for 
thee, do thou accept it ; make me possessed of God!" Another 
utters for the first time the famous hymn, the M Gayatri," which 
now for more than three thousand years has been the daily prayer 
of every Brahman, and is still repeated every morning by millions 
of pious worshippers : " Let us meditate on the adorable light of 
the divine Creator : may he rouse our minds." This consciousness 
of higher influences in those who uttered praise, and thanksgiving 
to Him who made us, is the key-note of all religion, whether 
ancient or modern. 

The real history of man is the history of religion — the wonderful 
ways by which the different families of the human race advanced 
toward a truer knowledge, and a deeper love of God. This is the 
foundation that underlies all history : it is the light, the soul, and 
life of history. Man has but one history, the religious and profane 
so-called are but one, a man's religion has its best exponent in his 
every day conduct, good works and love to God being the first and 
only religion, theologies and creeds being but as chaff. 

The whole population of the world, has the same religion of the 
various theologies and creeds held in the several countries. 31.2 
per cent, are Buddhists, 13.4 per cent, are Brahmanists, which 
together gives 44 per cent, for what may be called living Aryan 
religions. Of the remaining 56 per cent., 15.7 are Mohammedans, 
8 7 per cent, nondescript heathens, 30.7 per cent. Christians, and 
only 0.3 per cent. Jews. 

Confucianism. 

The following contains some of the superstitions, worship, and 
theology mingled by the priests of China, with the moral teachings 
of Confucius ; together with a short account of his early life and 
teachings. 

Confucius, a great sage, moralist, and teacher, an active advo- 
cate of the good, the right, the true, and the practice of love and 



CONFUCIANISM. 47 

kind offices between man and man, has been the object of adora- 
tion and worship in chapels, special!} 7 erected for, and dedicated to 
the purpose throughout the Chinese Empire, for the last twenty- 
three centuries. He was born five hundred and fifty-one years 
before Christ. He was the first born of his mother, who was mar- 
ried when she was quite young to a man much older than herself. 
Among the legends current connected with his birth, &c, are the 
following : During the pregnancy of his mother, she dreamed that 
she was to have a son, and that a four footed beast knelt before 
her, and cast forth from his mouth a slip or gem, on which was the 
inscription — "The son of the essence of water shall succeed to the 
withering Chow and be a throneless King." On the night when 
the child was born, two dragons came and kept watch on the left 
and right of the hill, and two spirit ladies appeared in the air, 
pouring out fragrant odors. As soon as the birth took place, a 
spring of clear warm water bubbled up from the floor of the cave, 
which dried up again when the child had been washed in it. The 
child was born in a designated cave, in obedience to a previous 
dream. The records which we have of Confucius' early years are 
very scant. When he was in his third year his father died. It is 
related of him that as a boy he used to play at the arrangement of 
sacrificial vessels, and postures of ceremony. Of his schooling, we 
have no reliable account. He tells us himself at fifteen he bent his 
mind to learning, but the condition of his family was one of pov- 
erty. At the age of twenty he was employed as keeper of the 
stores of grain. In his twenty-second year he commenced his 
labors as a public teacher, and at thirty had made great progress 
in learning and wisdom, gained great and wide-spread fame and 
was surrounded by disciples. The benefit of his wisdom and coun- 
sel was sought after by the high and low, by Princes, Kulers, Stu- 
dents, and enquirers after truth of all classes. So high was the 
moral tone of all his axioms, and so perfectly in accordance with 
man's innate perceptions of the right and good were all his teach- 
ings, that the many drank them in with the same avidity as they 
did the early teachings of Christ, before they were adulterated 
with the theology of the priests. 

The number of temples erected to his memory is sixteen hundred 
t.iid sixty. One of them occupies ten acres of land. The most 
famous temple in the Empire now rises over the place of the grave 
on which is inscribed : " The Perfect Sage. 1 ' On the two festivals 



48 APPENDIX. 

in the year sacred to his memory, there are sacrificed some seventy 
thousand animals of different kinds, and twenty-seven thousand 
pieces of silk are burned on his altars. Yet his religion is without 
priests, liturgy, or public worship, except on these two occasions. 
Kang-he, the second and greatest of the rulers of the present 
dynasty, in the twenty-third year of his reign, set the example of 
kneeling thrice, and each time laying his forehead thrice in the 
dust, before the image of the sage. At first, the worship of Confu- 
cius was confined to the country of Loo, but in A. D. 57 it was 
enacted that sacrifices should be offered to him in the imperial col- 
lege, and in all the colleges of the principal territorial division 
throughout the empire. 

About A. D. 628 began the custom, which continues to the pre- 
sent day, of erecting temples to him, — separate structures, in con- 
nection with all the colleges, or examination-halls, of the country. 
The sage is not alone in those temples. In a hall behind the prin- 
cipal one occupied by himself, are the tablets — in some cases the 
images — of several of his ancestors. On the first day of every 
month, offerings of fruits and vegetables are set forth, and on the 
fifteenth there is a solemn burning of incense. But twice a year, 
in the middle months of spring and autumn, when the first "ting" 
day of the month comes round, the worship of Confucius is per- 
formed with peculiar solemnity. At the imperial college the 
Emperor himself is required to attend in state, and is in fact the 
principal performer. After all the preliminary arrangements have 
been made, and the Emperor has twice knelt and six times bowed 
his head to the earth, the presence of Confucius' spirit is invoked 
in these words, " Great art thou, perfect sage ! Thy virtue is 
full ; thy doctrine is complete. Among mortal men there has not 
been thine equal. All kings honor thee. Thy statutes and laws 
have come gloriously down. Thou art the pattern in this imperial 
school. Reverently have the sacrificial vessels been set out. Full 
of awe we sound our drums and bells." 

The spirit is supposed now to be present, and the service pro- 
ceeds through various offerings, when the first of which has been 
set forth, an officer reads the following, which is the prayer on the 
occasion : " On this .... month of this .... year, I, A. B., 
the Emperor, offer a sacrifice to the philosopher K'ung, the ancient 
Teacher, the perfect Sage, and say, — Teacher, in virtue equal to 
Heaven and Earth, whose doctrines embrace the past time and the 



CONFUCIANISM. 49 

present, thou didst digest and transmit the six classics, and didst 
hand down lessons for all generations ! Now in this second month 
of spring (or autumn), in reverent observance of the old statutes, 
with victims, silks, spirits, and fruits, I carefully offer sacrifice 
to thee With thee are associated the philosopher Yen, continua- 
tor of thee ; the philosopher Ysang, exhibiter of thy fundamental 
principles ; the philosopher Ysze-sze, transmitter of thee ; and the 
philosopher Mang, second to thee. May'st thou enjoy the offer- 
ings !" 

I need not go on to enlarge on the homage which the Emperors 
of China render to Confucius. It could not be more complete. It 
is worship and not mere homage. He was unreasonably neglected 
when alive. He is now unreasonably venerated when dead. 

At the present day, education is widely diffused throughout 
China. In no other country is the school-master more abroad, and 
in all schools it is Confucius who is taught. In many school-rooms, 
there is a tablet or inscription on the wall, sacred to the sage ; and 
every pupil is required on coming to school on the morning of the 
first and fifteenth day of every month, to bow before it, the first 
thing, as an act of worship. Thus, all in China who receive the 
slightest tincture of learning, do so at the fountain of Confucius. 
They learn of him, and do homage to him at once. 

During his life-time he had three thousand disciples. Hundreds 
of millions are his disciples now. For two thousand years he has 
reigned supreme, the undisputed teacher of this most populous 
land. Confucius is thus, in the empire of China, the one man by 
whom all possible lessons of social, virtue and political wisdom are 
taught. 

Confucius did not trouble himself to account for the origin of 
man, nor did he pretend to know about his hereafter. 

As to creation, and the final destiny of man, we suggest that, the 
innate consciousness of the totality of the human race is that the 
soul is immortal, and destined to an eternity of more or less hap- 
piness, in proportion as man discharges, under his free-agency, the 
laws of his maker which have relation to his being, as thev are 
revealed to him. 

This is all that God has ever revealed to man on the subject, 
and it is most unquestionably all that it is well for him to know. 
If man could know with certainty all that would take place in rela- 



50 APPENDIX. 

tion to his future life on earth, it would entirely unfit him for hap- 
piness. 

Among the things which Confucius taught were " truthfulness, 
and sincerity," which were celebrated as highly, and demanded as 
stringently by him, as ever it has been by any Christian moralist. 
One of Confucius' disciples asked if there was one word which 
would serve as a rule of practice for all one's life, and was 
answered, " Is not reciprocity such a word?" What you do not 
want done to yourself, do not unto others. 

The people in China, as elsewhere, believe, what is the beginning 
and end of all wisdom, that the laws of the moral Order of the 
world correspond to the universal conscience. 

The following declarations of Confucius and others among the 
Chinese were made five hundred years before Christ. 

The last years of the life of Confucius were devoted to editing 
the Sacred Books, or Kings. As we now have them, they come 
from him. Authentic records of Chinese history extend back to 
two thousand three hundred and fifty-seven, B. C. while the 
Chinese philosophy originated with Fuh-he, who lived about three 
thousand three hundred and twenty-seven B. C. He it was who 
substituted writing for the knotted strings which before formed 
the only means of record. Confucius edited the Yih-King, the Shoo 
King, the She-King, and the Leke, which constitute the whole of 
the ancient literature of China which has come down to posterity. 

In Shoo-King a personal God is addressed. The oldest books 
recognize a Divine person: They teach that there is one Supreme 
Being, who is omnipresent, who sees all things, and has an 
intelligence which nothing can escape, — that he wishes men to 
live together in peace and brotherhood. He commands not only 
right actions, but pure desires and thoughts ; that we should watch 
all our behavior, and maintain a grave and majestic demeanor, 
" which is like a palace in which virtue resides," but especially 
that we should guard the tongue. " For a blemish may be taken out 
of a diamond by carefully polishing it ; but, if your words have the 
least blemish there is no way to efface that." " Humility is the 
solid foundation of all the virtues." " To acknowledge one's incapa- 
city is the way to be soon prepared to teach others, for from the 
moment that a man is no longer full of himself, nor puffed up 
with empty pride, whatever good he learns in the morning he 
practises before night." " Heaven penetrates to the bottom of 



CONFUCIANISM. 51 

our hearts, like light into a dark chamber. We must conform 
ourselves to it, till we are like two instruments of music tuned to 
the same pitch. We must join ourselves with it, like two tablets 
which appear but one. We must receive its gifts the very moment 
its hand is open to bestow. Our irregular passions shut up the 
door of our souls against God." 

" Man has received his nature from Heaven. Conduct in 
accordance with that nature, constitutes what is right and true-, — 
is a pursuing of the proper path. The cultivation or regulation 
of that path is what is called instruction. 

"Man has received from Heaven a moral nature by which he is 
constituted a law to himself, over this nature man requires to 
exercise a jealous watchfulness ; and as he possesses it, absolutely 
and relative^, in perfection, or attains to such possession of it, he 
becomes invested with highest dignity and power. 

"The way of the superior man reaches far and wide, and yet is 
secret, the path of duty is to be pursued everywhere and at all 
times while yet the secret spring and rule of it is near at hand, 
in the Heaven-conferred nature, the individual consciousness, with 
which no stranger can intermeddle. 

" When one cultivates to the utmost the moral principles of his 
nature, and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not 
far from the path. What you do not like when done to yourself, 
do not do to others : serve my father as I would require my son to 
serve me : serve my elder brother as I would require my younger 
brother to serve me : set the example in behaving to a friend as I 
would require him to behave to me. 

" Be earnest in practising the ordinary virtues, and careful in 
speaking about them ; if in his practice he has anything defective, 
the superior man dares not but exert himself, and if in his words 
he has any excess, he dares not allow himself such license; have 
respect to his actions, and his actions have respect to his words ; is 
it not just an entire sincerity which marks the superior man ? 

" The duties of universal application," those between husband 
and wife, father and son, elder and younger brother, and friends. 

The sincere or perfect man, is he who satisfies completely all the 
requirements of duty in the various relations of society, and in the 
exercise of government. " There is government when the prince 
is prince, and the minister is minister, when the father is father, 
and the son is son." 



52 APPENDIX. 

There is a sufficient foundation in nature for government in the 
several relations of society, and if those be maintained and 
developed according to their relative significancy, it is sure to 
obtain. This was a first principle in the political ethics of Con- 
fucius. 

The moment the ruler ceases to be a minister of God for good 
and does not administer a government that is beneficial to the 
people, he forfeits the title by which he holds the throne, and 
perseverance in oppression will surely lead to his overthrow. 

"Kecompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with 
kindness. He who recompenses injury with kindness is a man 
who is careful of his person. Filial piety and fraternal submis- 
sion ! are they not the root of all benevolent actions?" "Fine 
words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with 
true virtue." 

The philosopher said, " I daily examine myself on three points: 
whether, in transacting business for others, I may not have been 
faithful ; — whether, in intercourse with friends, I may not have 
been sincere." 

" A youth, when at home, should be filial, and abroad, respectful 
to his elders. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the 
friendship of the good." 

" Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. 

" When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them." 

Tsze-kung said, " what do you pronounce concerning the poor 
man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man who is not proud ?" 
The Master replied, " they will do ; but they are not equal to him, 
who, though poor, is yet cheerful, and to him, who, though rich, 
loves the rules of propriety." 

" He who exercises government by means of his virtue, may be 
compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the 
stars turn towards it." In the Book of Poetry are three hundred 
pieces, but the design of them all may be embraced in that one 
sentence — ' Have no depraved thoughts.' 

The duties of filial piety must be performed with a cheerful 
countenance. 

The Duke Gae asked, saying, "What should be done in order to 
secure the submission of the people." Confucius replied, "advance 
the upright and set aside the crooked, then the people will sub- 



CONFUCIANISM. 53 

mit. Advance the crooked and set aside the upright, then the 
people will not submit." 

Ke K'ang asked how to cause the people to reverence their ruler, 
to be faithful to him, and to urge themselves to virtue. The 
Master said, " Let him preside over them with gravity ; then they 
will reverence him. Let him be filial and kind to all ; then they 
will be faithful to him. Let him advance the good and teach the 
incompetent ; — then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous." 

The Master said, " I do not know how a man without truthful- 
ness is to get on. How can a large carriage be made to go with- 
out the cross-bar for yoking the oxen to, or a small carriage with- 
out the arrangement for yoking the horses?" 

The Master said, " For a man to sacrifice to a spirit which does 
not belong to him is flattery. 

" To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage. 

" He who offends against Heaven has none to whom he can pray. 

" If the will be set on virtue, there will be no practice of wicked- 
ness. 

11 Riches and honors are what men desire. If it cannot be 
obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty 
and meanness are what men dislike. If it cannot be avoided in 
the proper way, they should be endured. 

" The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal 
act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In 
seasons of danger he cleaves to it. 

" If a man in the morning hear the right way, he may die in the 
evening without regret. 

11 A man should say, I am not concerned that I have no place — 
I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. I am not concerned 
that I am not known, — I seek to be worthy to be known." " My 
doctrine is that of an all-pervading unity." 

" Be true to the principles of our nature and the benevolent 
exercise of them to others. 

" When we see men of worth, we should think of equalling 
them ; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn 
inwards and examine ourselves. 

11 The cautious seldom err. 

"The superior man wishes to be slow in his words and earnes 
in his conduct. 



54 APPENDIX. 

" Virtue is not left to stand alone. He who practises it will 
have neighbors." 

The Master said, " I have not seen a firm and unbending man.' 
Some one replied, "There is Shin Oh'ang." " Ch'ang," said the 
Master, " is under the influence of his lusts, how can he be firm 
and unbending ?" 

The Master said of Tsze-ch'an that he had four of the character- 
istics of a superior man : — in his conduct of himself, he was humble; 
in serving his superiors, he was respectful ; in nourishing the 
people, he was kind ; in ordering the people, he was just. 

" In regard to the aged, give them rest ; in regard to friends, show 
them sincerity ; in regard to the young, treat them tenderly." 

The Duke Gae asked which of the disciples love to learn. Con- 
fucius replied to him, there was Yen Hwuy ; He loved to learn. 
He did not transfer his anger ; he did not repeat a fault. Unfor- 
nately, his appointed time was short and he died ; and now there 
is not such another. I have not yet heard of any one who loves to 
learn as he did. 

"They who know the truth are not equal to those w T ho love it, 
and they who love it are not equal to those who find delight in it." 

Fan Ch'e asked what constituted wisdom. The Master said, "To 
give one's-self earnestly to the duties due to men. The man of 
virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and 
success only a subsequent consideration." 

" The wise are active ; the virtuous are tranquil. The wise are 
joyful ; the virtuous are long-lived. 

" The superior man, extensively studying all learning, and keep- 
ing himself under the restraint of the rules of propriety, may thus 
likewise not overstep what is right. 

" Perfect is the virtue which is according to the Constant Mean! 

" The man of perfect virtue, wishing to be established himself, 
seeks also to establish others ; wishing to be enlarged himself, he 
seeks also to enlarge others. 

" To be able to judge of others by what is nigh in ourselves ; — 
this may be called the art of virtue." 

The Master said, " The leaving virtue without proper cultiva- 
tion ; the not thoroughly discussing what is learned ; not being 
able to move towards righteousness of which a knowledge is 
gained ; and not .being able to change what is not good : — these 
are the things which occasion me solicitude. 



CONFUCIANISM. 55 

u Let the will be set on the path of duty. 

" Let every attainment in what is good be firmly grasped. 

" Let perfect virtue be accorded with. 

''Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the polite arts. 

The Master said, " With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, 
and my bended arm for a pillow; — I have still joy in the midst 
of these things. Eiches and honors acquired by unrighteousness 
are to me as a floating cloud. 

"Do you think, my disciples, that I have any concealments? 
I conceal nothing from you. Could I see a man possessed of con- 
stancy, that would satisfy me. 

" Having not and yet affecting to have, empty and yet affecting 
to be full, straitened and yet affecting to be at ease : — it is difficult 
with such characteristics to have constancy. 

" Hearing much and selecting what is good and following it, 
seeing much and keeping it in memory : — this is the second style 
of knowledge. 

11 Is- virtue a thing remote ? I wish to be virtuous, and lo ! 
virtue is at hand." 

The Master said, " The sage and the man of perfect virtue : — 
how dare I rank myself with them ? It may simply be said of me, 
that I strive to become such. without satiety, and teach others 
without weariness. 

u When those who are in high stations perform well all their 
duties to their relations, the people are aroused to virtue. 

" There are three principles of conduct which the man of high 
rank should consider specially important : — that in his deportment 
and manner he keep from violence and heedlessness ; that in regu- 
lating his countenance he keep near to sincerity ; and that in his 
words and tones he keep far from lowness and impropriety. 

" It is by the Odes that the mind is aroused. 

'• It is by the Rules of propriety that the character is established. 

" It is from Music that the finish is received." 

The Master said, " It is not. easy to find a man who has learned 
for three years without coming to the good. 

" With sincere faith he unites the love of learning; holding firm 
to death, he is perfecting the excellence of his course. 

" Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were always 
fearing also lest you should lose it." 



56 APPENDIX. 

There were four things from which the Master was entirely free. 
He had no foregone conclusions, no arbitrary predeterminations, 
no obstinacy, and no egotism. 

" The prosecution of learning may be compared to what may 
happen in raising a mound. It may be compared to throwing 
down the earth on the level ground. Though but one basketful 
is thrown at a time, the advancing with it is my own going 
forward. 

" Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. 

1 The commander of the forces of a large State may be carried 
off, but the will of even a common man cannot be taken from 
him. 

"The wise are free from perplexities; the virtuous from anxiety; 
and the bold from fear. 

" A great minister, is one who serves his prin6e according to 
what is right, and when he finds he cannot do so, retires. 

" Look not at what is contrary to propriety ; listen not to what 
is contrary to propriety ; speak not what is contrary to propriety ; 
make no movement which is contrary to propriety." 

Ohung-kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master said, " It 
is when you go abroad, to behave to every one as if you were 
receiving a great guest ; not to do to others as you would not wish 
done to yourself; to have no murmuring against you in the coun- 
try, and none in the family. 

" Be cautious and slow in speech. 

" When a mans feels the difficulty of doing, can he be other than 
cautious and slow in speaking? 

" When internal examination discovers nothing wrong, what is 
there to be anxious about, what is there to fear ? 

"He with whom neither slander that gradually soaks into the 
mind, nor statements that startle like a wound in the flesh, are 
successful, may be called intelligent, indeed, may be called far- 
seeing. 

" Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles, and be 
moving continually to what is right ; — this is the way to exalt 
one's virtue. 

"The art of governing is to keep its affairs before the mind 
without weariness, and to practise them with undeviating consis- 
tency. 



CONFUCIANISM. 57 

" The superior man seeks to perfect the admirable qualities of 
men. 

" To govern, means to rectify. If you lead on the people with 
correctness, who will not dare to be correct ? 

11 The man of distinction is solid and straightforward, and loves 
righteousness. 

" To assail one's own wickedness and not assail that of others ; — 
this is the way to correct cherished evil. For a morning's anger to 
disregard one's own life, and involve that of one's parents ; — is not 
this a case of delusion ?" 

Fan Ch'e asked about benevolence. The Master said, " It is to 
love all men. 

" Employ the upright and put aside all the crooked ; — in this 
way, the crooked can be made to be upright. 

" Faithfully admonish your friend, and kindly try to lead him. 

" When punishments are not properly awarded, the people do 
not know how to move hand or foot. 

" If he cannot rectify himself, what has he to do with rectifying 
others ? 

" In the management of business, to be reverently attentive ; in 
intercourse with others, to be strictly sincere. 

"The ardent will advance and lay hold of truth; the cau- 
tiously-decided, will keep themselves from what is wrong. 

"The superior man is affable, but not adulatory; the mean 
is adulatory, but not affable. 

" The superior man has a dignified ease without pride. The 
mean man has pride without a dignified ease. 

11 The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest, are near 
to virtue. 

11 He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make 
his words good. 

" The way of the superior man is three-fold. Virtuous, he is free 
from anxieties ; wise, he is free from perplexities ; bold, he is free 
from fear. 

"What do you say concerning the principle that injury should 
be recompensed with kindness?" 

The Master said, " With what then will you recompense kind- 
ness? 

" Eecompense injury with justice, and recompense kindness with 
kindness. 



58 APPENDIX. 

11 If a man take no thought about what is distant, he will find 
sorrow near at hand. 

"The superior man in everything considers righteousness to be 
essential. He performs it according to the rules of propriety. He 
brings it forth in humility. He completes it with sincerity. 

11 What the superior man seeks, is in himself. "What the mean 
man seeks, is in others. 

" Is there one word which may serve as a rule of practice for all 
one's life?" The Master said, "Is not Reciprocity such a word? 
What you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others. 

• ■ Specious words confound virtue. Want of forbearance in small 
matters confounds great plans. 

" To have faults and not to reform them, — this indeed, should 
be pronounced having faults. 

"By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be 
wide apart. 

" If you are grave, you will not be treated with disrespect. If 
you are generous, you will win all. If you are sincere, people will 
repose trust in you. If you are earnest, you will accomplish much. 
If you are kind, this will enable you to employ the services of 
others. 

" Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven, it is impossible 
to be a superior man. 

" The illustrious virtue is the virtuous nature which man derives 
from Heaven. 

" The cultivation of the person is the prime, radical thing 
required from all. 

" Let there be daily renovation. What truly is within will be 
manifested without. 

" Riches adorn a house, and virtue adorns the person. The cul- 
tivation of the person depends on the rectifying of the mind. The 
regulation of one's family depends on the cultivation of his person. 

" There are few men in the world who love, and at Jhe same 
time know the bad qualities of the object of their love, or who hate, 
and yet know the excellences of the object of their hatred. 

" Act as if you were watching over an infant. If a mother is 
really anxious about it, though she may not hit exactly the wants 
of her infant, she will not be far from doing so." 

"From the loving example of one family, a whole State becomes 
loving, and from its courtesies, the whole State becomes courteous. 



CONFUCIANISM. 59 

" The ruler must himself be possessed of the good qualities, and 
then he may require them in the people. When the ruler as a 
father, a son, and a brother, is a model, then the people imitate 
him. 

" When the sovereign behaves to his aged, as the aged should be 
behaved to, the people becomei filial ; when the sovereign behaves 
to his elders, as elders should be behaved to, the people learn bro- 
therly submission ; when the sovereign treats compassionately the 
young and helpless, the people do the same. Thus the ruler has a 
principle with which, as a measuring square, he may regulate his 
conduct. The ruler's words going forth contrary to right, will 
come back to him in the same way, and wealth, gotten by improper 
ways, will take its departure by the same. 

" To love those whom men hate, and to hate those whom men 
love ; this is to outrage the natural feeling of man. 

" Let there be activity in the production, and economy in the 
expenditure. Then the wealth will always be sufficient. 

" What Heaven has conferred is called The Nature ; an accord- 
ance with this nature is called The Path of duty ; the regulation of 
path is called Instruction. 

" While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy, 
the mind may be said to be in the state of Equilibrium. When those 
feelings have been stirred and they act in their due degree, there 
ensues what may be called the state of Harmony. This Equilib- 
rium is the great root from which grow all the human actings in 
the world, and this Harmony is the universal path which they all 
should pursue. 

" Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, 
and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and 
all things will be nourished and flourish. 

" To show forbearance and gentleness in teaching others, and not 
to revenge unreasonable conduct. 

" When men try to pursue a course, which is far from the indica- 
tions of consciousness, this course cannot be considered The Path. 

" In hewing an axe-handle, the pattern is not far off. We grasp 
one axe-handle to hew the other, and yet, if we look askance from 
the one to the other, we may consider them as apart. 

" When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of his nature, 
and exercises them on the principle of reciprocity, he is not far 
from the path. 



60 APPENDIX. 

" The superior man can find himself in no situation in which he 
is n ot himself. 

" Happy union with wife and children is like the music of lutes 
and harps. When there is concord among brethren, the harmony 
is delightful and enduring. 

" How abundantly do spiritual beings display the powers that 
belong to them. 

11 We look for them, but do not see them ; we listen to, but do not 
hear them ; yet they enter into all things, and there is nothing 
without them, like overflowing w T ater, they seem to be over the 
heads, and on the right and left of their worshippers." 

It is said in the Book of Poetry. " The approaches, of the spirits 
you cannot surmise ; and can you treat them with indifference ? 

" Such is the manifestness of what is minute! Such is the impos- 
sibility of repressing the outgoings of sincerity. 

" He who is greatly virtuous will be sure to receive the appoint- 
ment of Heaven. 

" The administration of government lies in getting proper men. 
Such men are to be got by means of the ruler's own character. 
That character is to be cultivated by his treading in the ways of 
duty. And the treading those ways of duty is to be cultivated by 
the cherishing of benevolence. 

11 Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity. Eight- 
eousness is the accordance of actions with what is right. 

" If principles of conduct have been previously determined, the 
practice of them will be inexhaustible. 

11 Sincerity is the way of Heaven. The attainment of sincerity is 
the way of men. To this attainment there are requisite the exten- 
sive study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful reflec- 
tion on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the earnest practice 
of it. 

"Let a man proceed in this way, and, though dull, he will surely 
become intelligent ; though weak, he will surely become strong. It 
is only he who is possessed of the most complete sincerity that can 
give full development to his nature. 

" He who cultivates to the utmost the shoots of goodness in him. 
From those he can attain to the possession of sincerity. This sin- 
cerity becomes apparent. From being apparent it becomes mani- 
fest. From being manifest it becomes brilliant. Brilliant it affects 
others. Affecting others they are changed by it. Changed by it 
they are transformed. 



MEXICO AND PERU. 61 

"Heaven and Earth are without any doubieness, and so they 
produce things in a manner that is unfathomable. 

" What needs no display is virtue. 

" Learn the past and you will know the future. 

" Grieve not that men know not you, grieve that you know not 
men. 

" The essence of knowledge is, having it, to apply it ; not having 
it, to confess your ignorance. 

" Worship as though the Deity were present. 

" If my mind is not engaged in my worship, it is as though I 
worshipped not." 

Mexico and Peru. 

The social condition of Mexico and Peru, at the time of the dis- 
covery of America, demonstrates what is claimed in the introduc- 
tion of this work, that similar usages make their appearance spon- 
taneously in the progress of civilization of different countries, 
showing how little they depend on accident, how closely they are 
connected with the nature and organization, and therefor with the 
necessities of man. From important ideas and great institutions 
down to the most trifling incidents of domestic life, so striking is 
the parallel between the American aborigines and Europeans that 
with difficulty do we divest ourselves of the impression that there 
must have been some intercommunication. Each was, however, 
pursuing an isolated and spontaneous progress ; and yet how 
closely does the picture of life in the New World answer to that 
in the Old ! The monarch of Mexico lived in pomp ; wore a golden 
crown resplendent with gems ; was aided in his duties by a privy 
council; the great lords held their lands of him by the obligation 
of military service. In him resided the legislative power, yet he 
was subject to the laws of the realm. The judges held their office 
independently of him, and were not liable to removal by him. The 
laws were reduced to writing, which though only a system of hiero- 
glyphics, served its purpose so well that the Spaniards, were obliged 
to admit its validity in their courts, and to found a professorship 
for perpetuating a knowledge of it. Marriage was regarded as an 
important social engagement. Divorces were granted with diffi- 
culty. 



62 APPENDIX. 

In the human hives of Europe, Asia, and America, the bees were 
marshalled in the same way and were instinctively building their 
combs alike. 

The religious state, that is true religion, is a reflection of that of 
Europe, and Asia ! as also their theology. Their worship was 
mixed up with imposing ceremonial. The common people had a 
mythology of many gods, but the higher classes were strictly Unita- 
rian, acknowledging one Almighty, invisible Creator. Of the popu- 
lar deities, the god of war was the chief. With sedulous zeal, the 
clergy engrossed the duty of public education, thereby keeping 
society in their grasp. 

The condition of astronomy in Mexico is illustrated, as it is in 
Egypt, by the calendar. At the conquest, the Mexican calendar 
was in a better condition than the Spanish. They had sun-dials 
for determining the hour, and also instruments for the solstices and 
the equinoxes. They had ascertained the globular form of the 
earth and the obliquity of the ecliptic. Their agriculture was 
superior to that of Europe ; there was nothing in the Old World 
to compare with the menageries and botanical gardens. 

They employed a currency of gold dust, pieces of tin, and bags 
of cacao. In their domestic economy though polygamy was per- 
mitted, it was in practice, confined to the wealthy. The women 
did not work abroad, but occupied themselves in spinning, em- 
broidering, feather-work, music. Ablution was resorted to both 
before and after meals ; perfumes were used at the toilet. The 
Mexicans gave to Europe tobacco, snuff, the turkey, chocolate, 
cochineal. Like us, they had in their entertainments solid dishes, 
with suitable condiments, gravies, sauces and desserts of pastries, 
confections, fruits, both fresh and preserved. They had chafing- 
dishes of silver or gold. Like us, they knew the use of intoxi- 
cating drinks ; like us, they not unfrequently took them to excess ; 
like us, they heightened their festivities with dancing and music. 
They had theatrical and pantomimic shows. At Tezcuco there 
was a council of music, which, moreover, exercised a censorship on 
philosophical works, as those of astronomy and history. In that 
city, North American civilization reached its height. The king's 
palace was a wonderful work of art. It was said that two hundred 
thousand men were employed in its construction. 

The prevailing religious feeling is expressed by the sentiments of 
one of the kings, many of whom had prided themselves in their 



MEXICO AND PERU. 63 

poetical skill : " Let us," he says, " aspire to that heaven where all 
is eternal, and where corruption never comes." He taught his 
children not to confide in idols, but only to conform to the outward 
worship of them in deference to public opinion. 

To the preceding description of the social condition of Mexico 
we shall add a similar brief account of that of Peru, for the conclu- 
sions to be drawn from a comparison of the spontaneous process of 
civilization in these two countries with the process in Europe, is of 
importance to the attainment of a just idea of the development of 
mankind. The most competent authorities declare that the Mexi- 
cans and Peruvians were ignorant of each other's existence. 

The state of Peruvian civilization is at once demonstrated when 
it is said that these mountain slopes had become a garden, immense 
terraces having been constructed wherever required, and irriga- 
tion on a grander scale than that of Egypt carried on by gigantic 
canals and aqueducts. Advantage was taken of the different 
mean annual temperatures at different altitudes to pursue the cul- 
tivation of various products, for difference in height topographically 
answers to difference in latitude geographically ; and thus, in a 
narrow space, the Peruvians had every variety of temperature, 
from that corresponding to the hottest portions of Southern Europe 
to that of Lapland. In the mountains of Peru, as has been graph- 
ically said, man sees " all the stars of the heavens and all the fami- 
lies of plants." On plateaus at a great elevation above the sea 
there were villages and even cities. Thus the plain upon which 
Quito stands, under the equator, is nearly ten thousand feet high. 
So great was their industry that the Peruvians had gardens and 
orchards above the clouds; and on ranges still higher flocks of 
lamas, in regions bordering on the limit of perpetual snow. 

Through the entire length of the empire two great military 
roads were built ; one on the plateau, the other on the shore. 
The former, for nearly two thousand miles, crossed sierras covered 
with snow, was thrown over ravines, or went through tunnels in 
the rocks. 

The public couriers, as in Mexico, could make, if necessary, two 
hundred miles a day. Of these roads, Humboldt says that they 
were among the most useful and most stupendous ever executed 
by the hand of man. 

In Cuzco, the metropolis, was the imperial residence of the Inca 
and the Temple of the Sun. It contained edifices which excited 
the amazement of the Spanish. 



64 APPENDIX. 

The Peruvian religion ostensibly consisted of a worship of the 
Sun, but the higher classes, had already become emancipated from 
such a material association, and recognized the existence of one 
almighty, invisible God. They expected the . resurrection of the 
body and the continuance of the soul in a future life. 

To the Supreme Being but one temple was dedicated. It was 
in a sacred valley, to which pilgrimages were made. 

Besides the sun, the visible god, other celestial bodies were 
worshipped in a subordinate way. 

As to the people, nowhere else in the whole world was such an 
extraordinary policy of supervision practised. 

They were divided into groups of ten, fifty, one hundred, five 
hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, and over the last an Inca 
noble was placed. Through this system a rigid centralization was 
ensured, the Inca being the pivot upon which all the national 
affairs turned. It was an absolutism worthy of the admiration of 
many existing European riations. ' . 

The Inca, at once emperor and pope, was enabled, in that 
double capacity, to exert a rigorous partriarchal rule over his 
people, who were treated like children, not suffered to be 
oppressed. Industry was encouraged ; for, with a worldly wisdom 
which no other nation presents, labor was here acknowledged not 
as a means, but also as an end. It was the boast of the system 
that every one lived exempt from social suffering, — that all enjoyed 
competence. 

In their extraordinary provisions for agriculture, the national 
pursuit, the skill of the Peruvians is well seen. 

A rapid' elevation from the sea-level to the heights of the 
mountains gave them, in a small compass, every variety of climate, 
and they availed themselves of it. They terraced the mountain- 
sides, filling the terraces with rich earth. They excavated pits in 
the sand, surrounded them with adobe walls, and filled them with 
manured soil. On the low level they cultivated bananas and 
cassava ; on the terraces above, maize and quinoa ; still higher, 
tobacco; and above that, the potato. From a comparatively 
limited surface, they raised great crops by judiciously using 
manures, employing for that purpose fish, and especially guano. 
Their example has led to the use of the latter substance for a like 
puroose in our own times in Europe. The whole civilized world 
has lollowed them in the cultivation of the potato. 



MEXICO AND PERU. 65 

We have dwelt at some length on the domestic history of Mexico 
and Peru because it is intimately connected with one of the 
philosophical principles which it is the object of this book to teach, 
viz : that human progress takes place under an unvarying law, 
and therefore in a definite way. The trivial incidents mentioned 
in the preceding paragraphs may perhaps have seemed insig- 
nificant and wearisome, but it is their very commonness, their very 
familiarity, that gives them, when rightly considered a surprising 
interest. There is nothing in these minute details but what we 
find to be perfectly natural from the European point of view. 
They might be, for that matter, instead of reminiscences of the 
spontaneous evolution of a people shut out from the rest of the 
world by impassable oceans, a relation of the progress of some 
European or Asiatic nation. The man of America proceeded 
forward in his course of civilization as did the man of the Old 
World, devising the same institutions, guided by the same inten- 
tions, constrained by the same desires. From the great features of 
his social system down to the little details of his domestic life, there 
is a sameness with what was done in Asia, Africa, Europe. But 
similar results imply a similar cause. What, then is there possessed 
in common by the Chinese, the Hindoo, the Egyptian, the European, 
the Americans ? Simply nothing but the sameness of the endow- 
ments which constitute human nature — God working through Man 
to produce his will and pleasure. The same instincts, intuitions, 
incentives, and common sense guides men all over the world. Man 
in his social progress, the free-w T ill of which he so prides himself, in 
his individual capacity gives way, or is so modified by the action 
and influence of others and the domination of general laws, as that 
God's exact purpose in creating man shall be attained ; notwith- 
standing, that individual man (short-sighted as he is) has partial 
control over his destiny. 

The free agency of the individual is so restrained by instincts, 
intuitions, and other influences, that none can hopelessly stray 
from the path assigned to him. To each individual bee, the career 
is open; he may taste of this flower and avoid that; he may be 
industrious in the garden, or idle away his time in the air ; but the 
history of one hive is the history of another hive ; there will be a 
predestined organization — the queen, the drones, the workers. 
In the midst of a thousand unforeseen, uncalculated, variable acts, 
a definite result, with unerring certainty, emerges ; the combs are 



66 APPENDIX. 

built in a pre-ordained way, and filled with honey at last. At the 
time of the conquest the moral man in Peru was fully equal to the 
Europeans, and we will add, the intellectual man also. Nor in 
Spain, or even in all Europe, was there to be found a political 
system carried out into the practical details of actual life, and 
expressed in great public works as its outward, visible, and endur- 
ing sign, which could at all compare with that of Peru. 

Manco Capac is generally spoken of by historians as having 
introduced the worship of the sun ; this mistake seems to have 
arisen from the title of the Great Light, by which many branches 
of the Indian people characterized the Creator, and this is perfectly 
scriptural, as we are taught to consider the sun as a symbol or repre- 
sentation of that Great moral Light and Life, which is emphati- 
cally called the " Sun of Righteousness." The sun is illustrative 
of the Divine power and Godhead, as well as are all the other 
works of the Creator ; the term Great Light, and its symbol the 
sun, seem to have been considered by historians a synonyme ; and 
therefore they have erroneously charged the Incas with the worship 
of the sun, instead of the great moral Light by whom as men, and 
as a community, they were greatly enlightened. 

The following were among the regulations for governing the 
people ; there were judges in small controversies. Idleness was 
punished with stripes. Each colony had a supreme judge. Theft, 
murders, and adultery were punished chiefly by death, in order not 
to leave a bad man more incensed or necessitated to commit new 
crimes. 

These laws had so good an effect, that sometimes a year passed 
without one execution. * * * "After a long and revered reign, at 
the approach of the last period of life, Mango Capac called 
together all his children and grand- children ; he told, them he was 
goinp; to repose himself with his Father. To his eldest son he left 
his empire, and advised and charged them all to continue in the 
paths of reason and virtue, which he had taught them, until they 
followed him on the same journey, and that this was the only 
course by which they could prove themselves the children of the 
Great Light, and as such be honored and respected. He com- 
manded his successor, whose name was Sinchi Roca, to govern his 
people with justice, mercy, piety, clemency, and care of the poor; 
and that when he should go to rest, &c , he should give the same 
instructions and exhortations to his successor." 



MEXICO AND PERU. 67 

Inca Roca erected schools for the education of the princes; it was 
a saying of this Inca, that, " If there be anything in this lower 
world which we might adore, it is a wise and virtuous man, who 
surpasses all other objects in dignity : but how can we pay Divine 
honors to one who is born in tears, who is in a daily state of change, 
who arrived but as yesterday, and who is not exempt from death — 
perhaps to-morrow." Ibid. ch. 2. p. 75. 

Pacha Cutec (the reformer) made many new laws and regula- 
tions ; he was severely just, and was esteemed a wise monarch. 
The following were some of his apophthegms : — 

" He who envies the wise and good, is like the wasp which sucks 
poison from the finest flowers." 

" Drunkenness and anger admit of reformation, but folly is 
incurable." 

" He who kills another unlawfully condemns himself to death." 

"A noble and generous heart is known by the patience with 
which it supports adversity." 

11 How ridiculous is he who is not able to count by quipos, and 
yet pretends to number the stars." 

The Inca Yupanqui was, by universal consent, surnamed the 
charitable ! His son Tupac Yupanqui preserved the conquests of 
his virtuous predecessors; he "governed his empire with wisdom 
and mildness." The emperor at length, feeling the approach of 
death, gave orders that his children " should come into his presence 
to hear his last injunctions." He recommended them by living in 
peace and justice, to prove themselves the true children of the 
Supreme Light. 

Among other maxims of this Inca, he said, — "Avarice and ambi- 
tion like other Passions have no bounds of moderation: the first 
unfits a man for the government of his own family, or for any pub- 
lic employment ; the second renders the understanding not suscep- 
tible of the counsels of the wise and virtuous." 

" In the kingdom of Acolhuan, the judicial power was divided 
amongst seven principal cities. The judges remained in their tri- 
bunals from sun-rise until sun-set. Their meals were brought to 
them, that they might not be taken off from their employment by 
the concerns of their families, nor have any excuse for being cor- 
rupted. They were assigned possessions, and also laborers to cul- 
tivate their fields. Those possessions belonged to their office, and 
could not be inherited by their sons. Every Mexican month 



68 APPENDIX. 

(twenty days) an assembly of Judges was held before tbe king, in 
order to determine all cases then undecided. If very intricate and 
perplexed, they were, if not then decided, reserved for the grand 
solemn general assembly, which was held every eighty days, and 
w T as called the conference of the eighty ; at which all caises were 
finally disposed of, and punishment pronounced on the guilty. 

He who at market altered the measures established by law, was 
guilty of felony, and was severely punished. 

A murderer forfeited his own life for his crime, even although 
the person murdered was a slave. 

"In the legislature of Acolhuan, if a nobleman was intoxicated 
to the losing of his senses, he was thrown into a river or lake ; if a 
plebian, for the first offence, he lost his liberty, for the second, his 
life. And when the legislator was asked why the law was more 
severe upon nobles than others, he answered that the crime of 
drunkenness was less pardonable in them, as they were bound in 
duty to set a good example. 

Hardwick says : There is reason to believe that some of these 
advances towards civilization in Mexico should be dated from a 
very high antiquity, especially in Yucatan. That Mexicans had 
borrowed largely from the Mayan builders, who already, in the 
dawn of history, erected towns and palaces and pyramid temples, 
rivalling those of Egypt in area and magnificence ; her creed, her 
laws, her ritual, and administrative principles, had all assumed a 
very definite and distinctive character. 

The wild man of America expresses a belief in some Great Spirit, 
(Mr. Schoolcraft says this doctrine is at the base of their religion. 
Mr. Prescott says " that the rude tribes inhabiting the vast Ameri- 
can continent had attained to the sublime conception of one Great 
Spirit, the Creator of the universe,") manifesting itself, not only, 
as the root and basis of all being, but in the light of a beneficent 
Creator. 

The Mexican name for God is teo-tl. The Mexicans beheld in 
him the being " by whom we live," " omnipresent, that knoweth all 
thoughts and giveth all gifts," "without whom man is as nothing," 
" invisible, incorporeal, one God of perfect perfection and purity," 
" under whose wings we find repose and a sure defence." This 
Being also had been worshipped by some elevated spirits, without 
image, sacrifice or temple. He was called the " Cause of causes," 
and the " Father of all things." 



THE TALMUD. 69 

In the address of the Mexican high-priest, the language runs as 
follows : " We entreat that those who die in war may be graciously 
received by thee, our Father." 

The Mexicans conceive the proper home of the divine Being to : 

be in the heavens: he is declared to be impalpable as " night and 

> » 
air. 

The Talmud. 

Among the ancient literature of the Hebrews was the Talmud, 
containing the laws and compilations of expositions of duties 
imposed upon the people by scripture, by traditions, by authority 
of their doctors, or by custom. The history of the time over which 
the composition of the Talmud ranges is about one thousand years, 
and its origin is co-eval with the return from the Babylonish cap- 
tivity. 

" Six hundred and thirteen injunctions " (says the Talmud) " was 
Moses instructed to give the people. David reduced them all to 
eleven in the fifteenth Psalm: " Lord who shall abide in thy taberna- 
cle ? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill ? He that walketh uprightly, 
and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 
He that backbiteh not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neigh- 
bor, nor taketh up a reproach against his neighbor. In whose eyes 
a vile person is contemned ; but he honoreth them that fear the 
Lord. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not. He 
that putteth not out his money to usury, nor taketh a reward 
against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be 
moved." 

The prophet Isaiah reduced them to six — xxxiii 15. — " He that 
walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the 
gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of 
bribes, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of blood, and shut- 
teth his eyes from seeing evil ; He shall dwell on high : his place of 
defence shall be the munitions of rocks : bread shall be given him ; 
his waters shall be sure," 

The prophet Micah reduced them to three, — vi. 8. — " What doth 
the Lord require of thee but to do justly, love mercy and walk 
humbly with thy God?" 

Isaiah once more reduced them to two, — lvi. 1. — ''Keep ye judg- 
ment and do justice." 



70 APPENDIX. 

Amos reduced them all to one, — v. 4. — " Seek me and ye shall 
live." 

But lest it might be supposed from this that God could be found 
in the fulfilment of his whole law only, Habakkuk said, — ii. 4. — 
" The just shall live by faith." 

As God is pure, so the soul is pure. This purity is specially 
dwelt upon in contradistinction to the theory of hereditary sin, 
which is denied. 

There is no everlasting damnation according to the Talmud. 
There is only a temporary punishment even for the worst sinners. 
No human being is excluded from the world to come. The punish- 
ment of the wicked is not specified, as indeed all the descriptions 
of the next world are left vague, yet with regard to Paradise, the 
idea of something inconceivably glorious is conveyed at every step. 

The "philosophy of religion" will be best comprehended by 
some of those "small coins," the popular and pithy sayings, 
gnomes, proverbs, — and the rest, — which, even better than street 
songs, characterize a time. We have thought it preferable to give 
them at random as we found them, instead of building up from 
them a system of " Ethics " or " Duties of the Heart." We have 
naturally preferred the better and more characteristic ones that 
came in our way. 

" Be thou the cursed, not he who curses. Be of them that are 
persecuted, not of them that persecute. Look at Scripture: there is 
not a single bird more persecuted than the dove ; yet God has cho- 
sen her to be offered up on His altar. The bull is hunted by the 
lion, the sheep by the wolf, the goat by the tiger. And God said, 
" Bring me a sacrifice, not from them that persecute, but from 
them that are persecuted." " Has God pleasure in the meat and 
blood of sacrifices?" asks the prophet. No; He has not so much 
ordained as permitted them. It is for yourselves, he says, not for 
me that you offer. Even when the gates of prayer are shut in 
heaven, those of tears are open. When the righteous dies it is the 
earth that loses. The aim and end of all wisdom is good works. 
The dying benediction of a sage to his disciples was : I pray for 
you that the fear of heaven may be as strong upon you as the fear 
of man. You avoid sin before the face of the latter: avoid it 
before the face of the All-seeing. " If your God hates idolatry, why 
does He not destroy it ?" a heathen asked. And they answered 
him: Behold, they worship the sun, the moon, the stars; would 



THE TALMUD. 71 

you have Him destroy this beautiful world for the sake of the fool- 
ish ? If your God is a " friend of the poor, " asked another, " why 
does He not support them?" Their case, a sage answered, is left 
in our hands, that we may thereby acquire merits. But what a 
merit it is ! the other replied ; suppose I am angry with one of my 
slaves, and forbid him food and drink, and some one goes and gives 
it him furtively, shall I be much pleased ? Not so, the other replied. 
Suppose you are wroth with your only son and imprison him with- 
out food, and some good man has pity on the child, and saves him 
from the pangs of hunger, would you be so very angry with the 
man ? And we, if we are called servants of God are also called 
His children. He who has more learning than good works, is like a 
tree with many branches but few roots, which the first wind throws 
on its face ; whilst he whose works are greater than his knowledge 
is like a tree with many roots and fewer branches, but which all 
the winds of heaven cannot uproot. 

Love your wife like yourself, honor her more than yourself. 
Whosoever lives unmarried, lives without joy, without comfort, 
without blessing, Descend a step in choosing a wife. If thy wife 
is small, bend down to her and whisper into her ear. He who 
forsakes the love of his youth, God's altar weeps for him. He who 
sees his wife die before him, has, as it were, been present at the 
destruction of the sanctuary itself — around him the world grows 
dark. It is woman alone through whom God's blessings are vouch- 
safed to a house. She teaches the children, speeds the husband to 
the place of worship, and instruction, welcomes him when he 
returns, keeps the house godly and pure, and God's blessings rest 
upon all these things. The birds in the air even despise the miser. 
He who gives charity in secret is greater than Moses himself. 
Honor the sons of the poor, it is they who bring science into splen- 
dor. Let the honor of thy neighbor be to thee like thine own. 
Hospitality is an important part of Divine worship. There are 
three crowns : of the law, the priesthood, the kingship ; but the 
crown of a good name is greater than them all. 

How can you escape sin ? Think of three things : whence thou 
comest, whither thou goest, and to whom thou wilt have to account 
for all thy deeds ; even to the King of Kings, the All-Holy, 
praised be He. Four shall not enter Paradise ; the scoffer, the 
liar, the hypocrite, and the slanderer — There is a great difference 
between him who is ashamed betore his own self, and him who is 



72 APPENDIX. 

only ashamed before others. It is a good sign in man to be capable 
of being ashamed. One contrition in man's heart is better than 
many flagellations. He who walks daily over his estates finds a 
little coin each time. He who humiliates himself will be lifted 
up ; he who raises himself up will be humiliated. Whosoever 
runs after greatness, greatness runs away from him, he who 
runs from greatness, greatness follows him. He who curbs his 
wrath, his sins will be forgiven. Whosoever does not persecute 
them that persecute him, whosoever takes an offence in silence, he 
who does good because of love, he who is cheerful under his suffer- 
ings — they are the friends of God, and of them the Scripture says, 
" And they shall shine forth as does the sun at noonday." Pride 
is like idolatry. Commit a sin twice and you will think it 
perfectly allowable. When the end of a man is come, everybody 
lords it over him. The day is short, and the work is great ; but the 
laborers are idle, though the reward be great and the master of 
the w^ork presses. It is not incumbent upon thee to complete the 
work ; but thou must not therefore cease from it. If thou hast 
worked much, great shall be thy reward ; for the master who 
employed thee is faithful in his payment. But know that the true 
reward is not of this world. " Have a care in legal decisions, 
send forth many disciples, and make a fence around the law." 
" On three things stands the world ; on law, on worship, and on 
charity." 

" Of all things, the most hated were idleness and asceticism, piety 
and learning themselves only received their proper estimation 
when joined to healthy bodily work. It is well to add a trade to 
your studies ; you will then be free from sin." 

Before leaving this period of Mishnic development, we have yet 
to speak of one or two things. This period is the one in which 
Christianity arose ; and it may be as well to touch here upon the 
relation between Christianity and the Talmud. The New Testa- 
ment, written as Lightfoot has it, " among Jews, by Jews, for Jews," 
cannot but speak the language of the time, both as to form and 
broadly speaking, as to contents. There are many more vital points 
of contact between the New Testament and the Talmud than 
divine seem fully to realize, for such terms as "Redemption," 
"Baptism," "Grace," "Faith," "Salvation," "Regeneration," 
"Son of Man," " Son of God," " Kingdom of Heaven," were not, as 
we are apt to think, invented by Christianity, but were household 



EGYPTIAN HISTORY. 73 

words of Talmudical Judaism. No ]ess loud and bitter in the 
Talmud are the protests against " lip-serving," against " making the 
law a burden to the people," against " laws that hang on hairs," 
against " Priests and Pharisees." The fundamental mysteries of the 
new Faith are matters totally apart ; but the Ethics in both are, in 
their broad outlines, identical. That grand dictum, " Do unto 
others as thou wouldst be done by," is quoted by Hillel, the Presi- 
dent, at whose death, Jesus was ten years of age, not as anything 
new, but as an old and well-known dictum " that comprised the 
whole Law." " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is a 
precept of the Old Testament, as Christ himself taught his disciples. 
The " Law " as we have seen and shall further see, was developed, 
to a marvellously, and perhaps, oppressively minute pitch. " The 
faith of the heart " — was a thing that stood much higher with the 
Pharisees than this outward law. It was a thing, they said, not 
to be commanded by any ordinance ; yet was greater than all. 

About thirty years (B. C.) Hillel became President. Of his meek- 
ness, his piety, his benevolence, the Talmudical records are full. 
A few of his sayings will characterize him better than any sketch 
of ours could do. "Be a disciple of Aaron, a friend of peace, a 
promoter of peace, a friend of all men, and draw them near unto 
the law." " Do not believe in thyself till the day of thy death." 

" Do not judge thy neighbor until thou hast stood in his place." 
"Whosoever does not increase in knowledge decreases." One day 
a heathen went to Shammai the head of the rival academy, and 
asked him mockingly to convert him to the law while he stood on 
one leg. The irate master turned him from the door. He then 
went to Hillel, who received him kindly, and gave him that reply — 
since so widely propagated. " Do not unto another what thou 
wouldst not have another do unto thee. This is the whole Law, 
the rest is mere commentary." 

Egyptian History. 

It is ascertained to a certainty by the reading of hieroglyphics 
on the monuments of Egypt, that as long as five thousand years 
ago, Egypt was an old country, and the wild barbarian state 
"when wild in woods the noble savage ran," appears as remote 
from that period as from the present. 

Art, luxury, even the vices of wealth and power are apparent, 
but of the so-called state of nature nothing is to be seen. The ear- 



74 APPENDIX. 

liest king of all Egypt must have ascended the throne about B. C. 
3643, and the paintings in the tombs at Ben Hassan must date at 
least B. C. 2800 ; giving them at his time an actual antiquity very 
little short of five thousand years : for they bear the names of that 
far-famed king of the twelfth dynasty, whose extraordinary stature, 
extensive conquests, and long reign are recorded by Manethon and 
Herodotus. His name is variously written by the different tran- 
scribers : in some it is Sesostris, in others Sesonchosis, and in the 
monuments, Sesortesen. 

It was at one of the most brilliant periods of the Egyptian mon- 
archy, therefore, that we have the elaborate representation of social 
life which these tombs afford : and this brilliant period was appar- 
ently anterior by many centuries to the birth even of Abraham. 

At this epoch, five thousand years ago, the Egyptians were skilled 
in the art of glass-blowing ; the smelting and working of metals, 
weaving, pottery, brick making, boat building, rope making, pre- 
paring leather, making wine from the grape, writing, painting, 
sculpture ; they had saws for the carpenter, sickles for the reaper, 
scythes for the cutter of stubble, chisels for the sculptor: their 
buildings were supported by columns ; they had gardens elabo- 
rately laid out, boats covered like a gondola to protect the passen- 
gers from the rays of the sun ; the rich enjoyed field sports in their 
preserves, which were stocked with wild animals by the labor of 
slaves ; ladies had their social meetings, where they were enter- 
tained by flute players and admired or criticised each other's dress; 
guests came to feasts in chariots drawn by caparisoned horses, and 
were entertained by tumblers and dancing girls, dressed in trans- 
parent robes, for the manufacture of which Egypt was always 
famous. 

From the above enumeration of what we are wont to term the 
arts of civilization, we might fancy ourselves introduced to the 
dominions of a Hindoo prince of our own times. No ! It is the 
picture of an age of the world when primeval barbarism has been 
supposed to have prevailed. 

Trace back the Egyptians from the age of the great Sesortesen 
toward that of the founder of the sole monarchy, and what do we 
find ? Pyramids, obelisks, gigantic statues, temples ; all the evi- 
dences of wealth and power. Writing materials are depicted on 
the monuments of the fourth dynasty. The age of barbarism like 
the rainbow, recedes at the attempt to follow it. 



EGYPTIAN HISTORY. 75 

The priests, here, as in all other countries, were a favored class 
segregated from the rest by their learning and their riches, no less 
than by their privilege of caste ; despising this ignorance of the 
lower orders, devised ceremonies to amuse, rather than to enlighten 
them ; and thus perpetuated and even increased this ignorance. 
All that we are told of the mysteries, the secret doctrines &c, which 
the Greeks affirm to have been introduced from Egyyt, comfirms 
this ; the religion of the heart, which ought to have expressed 
itself in the simple prayer or thanksgiving which formed the first 
worship of man, was exchanged for a set of ceremonies so compli- 
cated, that the complete knowledge of them became an art requir- 
ing long instruction ; the truth was hid under a vein which common 
eyes were unable to see through ; and the sacerdotal caste arro- 
gated consequence to itself for knowing what it had itself origi- 
nally concealed. 

There is a tendency in mankind to keep that a secret which is 
profitable ; and it is seldom that any priesthood, existing as a cor- 
porate body, has entirely escaped the dangerous influence of the 
spirit of caste. Note. — It is to this probably, that most of the cor- 
ruptions of Christ's teaching have been owing. Man is discouraged 
by the priests from believing that the approach to his Maker is 
easy, or his laws simple as nature itself; they are taught to despise 
the plain short order "Wash and be clean." Hence the gorgeous- 
ness of ceremonial worship. 

In the paintings of Beni-Hassan, though the act of prayer, and 
the offering of incense are often represented, no figure of the deity 
to whom this service was dedicated, is given. At a later period 
both paintings and sculpture abound with representations of 
strangely misformed deities, which are receiving the homage of their 
worshippers. Yet in the midst of all this, the books of the priest- 
hood (for such we must imagine the ceremonial ritual of which so 
many fragments are still existing) tell of a judgment after death, 
according to the actions performed during life ; of the immortality 
of the soul ; and of its re-union with the body. 

We have no positive knowledge of the state of man in other 
countries at the early period to which the monuments of Egypt 
carry us back ; but India, China, and Persia, claim for themselves a 
civilization as ancient, and there is no reason why a state of things 
which we find certainly proved in one country, should not have 
extended to others. Indeed, if we mav be allowed to reason from 



76 APPENDIX. 

analogy, it is much more probable that other nations should have 
reached to something near the same point, than that Egypt should 
have stood alone. China has been so much a sealed book, hitherto, 
that we can say little as to its antiquities, or even as to its present 
habits ; but there is much in modern Hindostan which reminds us 
of the state of manners depicted in the tombs of the ancient 
Egyptians. 

Within a short time the opinions here advanced, have received 
a farther corroboration from the disinterment of sculptures from the 
palaces, or temples of the ancient Assyrian empire ; which mark a 
state of civilization very similar to that of Egypt. We find there a 
monarch sumptuously apparelled and attended ; horses harnessed 
to chariots ; swords elaborately ornamented on the hilt ; dresses 
embroidered and fringed ; and a style of sculpture greatly resem- 
bling that of ancient Egypt. 

" The centre of the consciousness w T hich the Egyptains possessed 
of God's agency in our history is the Osiris worship, the oldest, 
and most sacred portion of their religion — Osiris is the Lord, the 
God and father of each individual soul, the judge of men, who 
passes sentence strictly according to the right and wrong, reward- 
ing goodness and punishing crime. — The judgment held upon the 
souls of the dead is nothing else than the reflection of that general 
theory of the universe according to which the good prevails, on 
earth in the midst of conflict, while evil annihilates itself, pro- 
moting the good against its own will — It involves the recognition 
that there is a solution of the enigma of existence which is not to 
be found in the term of a single life on earth, and yet which we 
are compelled to seek after, in order to explain this life — All guilt 
must be expatiated — but the final issue, although reached only after 
the lapse of unnumbered ages, will be the triumph of the good, 
the general reconciliation, and a life in God will be the eternal 
heritage of the soul — This thought pervades all the records we 
possess respecting the trial held upon the deceased in Egypt — This 
special mystery of the Egyptian religion implies a faith in the two 
great fundamental laws of all religious consciousness — the unity 
of the human reason in the conscience, and the indestructibility 
of personal identity — All mankind are judged by Osiris according 
to one standard" — The foregoing are among the religious views held 
by the Egyptians three thousand years B. C. 



stoicism. 77 

Stoicism. 

Dugal Stewart says, " The Stoics were a large sect, and of its 
members so many have been celebrated, that a separate work would 
be needed to chronicle them all. From Zeno, the founder, down to 
Brutus and Marcus Antonius, the sect embraces many Greek and 
Roman worthies, and not a few solemn pretenders. Some of these 
we would willingly introduce ; but we are forced to confine our- 
selves to one type ; and the one we select is Zeno." 

He was born at Oitium, a small city in the island of Cyprus, of 
Phoenician origin, but inhabited by Greeks. The date of his birth 
is uncertain, probably about three hundred and fifty years B. C 
His father was a merchant, in which trade he himself engaged, until 
his father, after a voyage to Athens, brought home some works of 
Socratic philosophers ; these Zeno studied with eagerness and 
rapture, and determined his vocation. 

When about thirty, he undertook a voyage, both of interest and 
pleasure, to Athens, the great mart both for trade and philosophy. 
Shipwrecked on the coast, he lost the whole of his valuable cargo of 
Phoenician purple : and thus, reduced to poverty, he willingly 
embraced the doctrine of the Cynics, whose ostentatious display of 
poverty had captivated many minds. 

The gross manners of the Cynics, so far removed from true sim- 
plicity, and their speculative incapacity, soon caused him to seek a 
master elsewhere. 

As a man, Zeno appears deserving of the highest respect. So 
honored and respected was he by the Athenians, that they 
entrusted to him the keys of the citadel ; and when he died they 
erected to his memory a statue of brass. 

Zeno the stoic had a Roman spirit ; and this is the reason why 
so many noble Romans became his disciples : he had deciphered 
the wants of their spiritual nature. 

Alarmed at the scepticism which seemed inevitably following 
speculations of a metaphysical kind, Zeno, like Epicurus, fixed his 
thoughts principally upon morals. His philosophy boasted of 
beino; eminently practical, and connected with the daily practices 
of life. But, for this purpose, the philosopher must not regard 
pleasure so much as virtue : nor does virtue consist in a life of con- 
templation, but in a life of activity. 

Zeno taught- as follows : Not to regard pleasure so much as vir- 
tue : nor does virtue con-ist in a life of contemplation and specula- 



78 APPENDIX. 

tion, but iu a life of activity; for what is virtue? Virtue is man- 
hood. ' And what are the attributes of man? Are they not 
obviously the attributes of an active, as well as of a speculative 
being ? and can that be virtue which excludes or neglects man's 
activity ? Man was not made for speculation only ; wisdom is not 
his only pursuit. Man was not made for enjoyment only ; he was 
made also to do somewhat, and to be somewhat. 

If the universe be subject to a general law, every part of that 
universe must also be duly subordinate to it. The consequence is 
clear ; there is but one formula for morals, and that is, " Live har- 
moniously with nature," both individual and universal nature. 

The Stoics placed the supreme good in rectitude of conduct, with- 
out any regard to the event. They taught that nature pointed out 
to us certain objects of choice and of rejection, and amongst these 
some to be more chosen and avoided than others : and that virtue 
consisted in choosing and rejecting objects according to their 
intrinsic value. 

"The Stoics, in the character of their virtuous man, included 
rational desire, aversion, and exultation, included love and paren- 
tal affection, friendship, and a general benevolence to all man- 
kind." 

Nor did they exclude wealth from among the objects of choice. 
The Stoic Hecato, in his Treatise of Offices quoted by Cicero, tells 
us, " That a wise man, while he abstains from doing anything con- 
trary to the customs, laws, and institutions of his country, ought to 
attend to his own fortune. For we do not desire to be rich for 
ourselves only, but for our children, relations, and friends, and 
especially for the commonwealth, inasmuch as the riches of indi- 
viduals are the wealth of a State." 

By the Stoics, virtue was supposed to consist in the affectionate 
performance of every good office towards their fellow-creatures, 
and in full resignation to Providence for everything independent 
of their own choice. 

" The Stoic enlisted himself as a willing instrument in the hands 
of God for the good of his fellow-creatures. For himself, the cares 
and attentions which this object required were his pleasures, and 
the continued exertion of a beneficent affection, his welfare and his 
prosperity." 

Upon the whole, it cannot be disputed, that its leading doctrines 
are agreeable to the purest principles of morality and religion. 



CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY. 79 

Indeed, they all terminate in one maxim: That we should not 
make the attainment of things external an ultimate object, but 
place the business of life in doing our duty, and leave the care of 
our happiness to him who made us. 

It was the precepts of this school which rendered the supreme 
power in the hands of Marcus Aurelius a blessing to the human 
race ; and which secured the private happiness, and elevated the 
minds of Helvidius and Thrasea under a tyranny by which their 
country was oppressed. 

Classical Antiquity. 

In ancient Rome the political institutions, and therefore, civil 
liberty, were the organs of religious consciousness. 

Now, if we take both these series of development as a whole, we 
shall readily convince ourselves, that in some particular branches 
history shows nothing elsewhere equal in splendor to the phe- 
nomena presented by the religious consciousness of classical anti- 
quity. This holds good, more especially, of its manifestations in 
public life. In this field, freedom forms a constant unit. And 
where else do we find so high a level attained by the community 
at large, combined with that public spirit and readiness to make 
sacrifices for the common wealth of a beloved and free fatherland, 
which ever betokens a high grade of culture ; as among Greeks 
and Romans? Where so organic an unfolding, elaboration, and 
permanent fruitage of art and poetry ? Where so finished a form 
of historical and philosophical composition ? 

And the social, no less than the public life of this ancient world, 
is much more thoroughly inter-penetrated with the sense of divine 
sanction than is that of our modern world. 

The comparison of the parallel phenomena presented by Aryan 
Christendom and classical antiquity, must leave a depressing 
impression on the impartial observer. 

The Romans had no hereditary sacred code, relating to spiritual 
and moral things, similar to those of the Hebrews, or even such as 
the Greeks possessed in that early period we have in view. Nor, 
again, had the Romans any prophets, either in the same sense as 
the Hebrews, or such as the Greeks were familiar with. 

The Romans were not mere warriors and conquerors. They had 
their wise law-giver3, who made efficient regulations, and adhered 
to them, from Servius Tullius onwards ; courageous Statesmen, and 
upright Judges. 



80 APPENDIX. 

Cicero. 

Cicero, who lived B. C , 106, says : that, "Law properly under- 
stood, is no other than right reason, agreeing with nature, spread 
abroad among men, ever consistent with itself, eternal, whose office 
is to summon to duty by its commands, to deter from vice by its 
prohibitions, — which, however, to the good never commands or for- 
bids in vain, never influences the wicked, either by commanding 
or forbidding. In contradiction to this law, nothing can be laid 
down, nor does it admit of partial or entire repeal. Nor can we be 
released from this law either by vote of the Senate, or decree of 
the people. Nor does it require any commentator, or interpreter 
besides itself. Nor will there be one law at Athens, and another 
at Rome, one now, and another hereafter : but one eternal, immu- 
table law will both embrace all nations and at all times. And there 
will be one common Master, as it were, and Ruler of all, namely, 
God, the great Originator, Expositor, Enactor of this Law ; which 
law, whoever will not obey, will be flying from himself, and 
having treated with contempt his nature, will, in that very fact, 
pay the greatest penalty, even if he shall have escaped other pun- 
ishments, as they are commonly considered. 

All men acknowledge that which we are led by nature to sup- 
pose, namely, that there are Gods. 

Surely the mighty power of the Infinite Being is most worthy of 
our great and earnest contemplation. 

Ignorance is inconsistent with the nature of the Gods, and imbe- 
cility with their majesty. 

Is he worthy to be called man, who attributes to chance, not to 
an intelligent cause, the constant motions of the heavens, the regu- 
lar courses of the stars, the agreeable proportion and connection of 
all things, conducted with so much reason, that our intellect itself 
is unable to estimate it rightly. When we see machines move arti- 
ficially, as a sphere, a clock, or the like, do we doubt whether they 
are the production of reason ? And when we behold the heavens 
moving with a prodigious celerity, and causing an annual succes- 
sion of the different seasons of the year, which vivify and preserve 
all things, can we doubt that the w T orld is directed by a reason 
most excellent and divine? 

Among men there is no nation so savage and ferocious as not to 
admit the necessity of believing in a God. From whence we con- 
clude that every man must recognize a Deity. 



PINDAR. 81 

The law of virtue is the same in God and man. 

What nation is there, which has not a regard for kindness, 
benignity, and gratitude ? What nation is there, in which arro- 
gance, cruelty, and unthankful n ess are not reprobated and de- 
tested ? 

There is no expiation for the crimes and impieties of men. The 
guilty, therefore, must pay the penalty, and bear the punishment ; 
not so much those punishments inflicted by courts of justice, which 
were not always in being, do not exist at present in many places, 
and even where established, are frequently biased and partial, — 
but those of conscience ; while the furies pursue them, not with 
burning torches as the poets feign, but with remorse of conscience, 
and the tortures arising from guilt. 

Pindar. 

Pindar, the Theban, a Greek Poet, born about B. C. 520, had 
extraordinary honors paid to him during his life, and after his 
decease. His odes and religious hymns were chanted in the 
temples of Greece before the most crowded assemblies, and on the 
most solemn occasions. The priestess of Apollo at Delphi declared 
that it was the will of that divinity that Pindar should receive 
half of the first fruits offered at his shrine. The Athenians erected 
a statue of brass in honor of him. 

Pindar speaks of the divine load-stars of this earthly life, virtue, 
piety, and reason, which ponder on the seriousness of life, and 
pious reverence for moderation. In no case does he refer man to 
omens and dreams and auguries. 

The Hellenes possessed no sacred historical records, and there- 
fore, escaped, the dangers of deducing intellectual dogmas of belief 
from historical traditions or symbolical legends and fables. 

Pindar proclaimed, that in human destinies a divine law rules, 
and this is the same law which the wise and pious man discovers 
in his own bosom. 

There exists an Order of the World : it is a Moral Order. It 
subsists not only for the brief earthly existence of the soul, for it is 
of a divine nature ; but already here below it regulates human 
destinies with a divine authority. 

Again, he declares that, human things have their origin and 
subsistence by virtue of the divine element which resides in them. 

The self-seeking principle in individuals or states. 
F 



82 APPENDIX. 

Pindar preached this doctrine, not after the fashion of an Orphic 
theologian : he set it before all men's eyes in the events and 
experiences of actual life. If any one expects to escape the notice 
of the Deity in doing aught, he errs. 

As many as have steadfastness, to keep their soul altogether 
from unjust actions, accomplish their way on the path of Zeus. 

Hateful is deceitful speech, meditating guile, ill report that 
maketh mischief. May I never have this character, Father Zeus, 
but may I hold to the guileless paths of life. 

As to what shall befall us, no sure presage attends men, whereby 
they may foreknow the decrees of Providence. 

Hope binds the frame of man with strong enchantment. 

The bitterest end awaits the pleasure that is contrary to right. 

Plato. 

Plato first established himself at Athens as a lecturer about 
386 B. C. 

Plato says that, in order to be happy, a man must be at once 
wise, brave, temperate, just- 
He does not indeed lay his main stress on the retribution and 
punishments which follow injustice, because he represents injustice 
as being in itself a state of misery, to the unjust agent: nor upon 
the rewards attached to justice, because he represents justice itself 
as a state of intrinsic happiness to the just agent. 

The just man will be well-esteemed and well-treated by men ; 
he will also be favored and protected by the Gods, both in this life 
and after this life. The unjust man, on the contrary, will be ill- 
esteemed and ill-treated by men; he will be disapproved and 
punished by the Gods, both while he lives, and after his death. 
Perhaps for a time the just man may seem to be hardly dealt with 
and miserable — the unjust man to be prosperous and popular — but 
in the end, all this will be reversed. 

Man is happy or miserable, in and through himself, or essentially; 
whether he be known to Gods and men or not — whatever may be 
the sentiment entertained of him by others. 

Plato declares that it is impracticable and impious to attempt 
to appease the displeasure, or to conciliate the favor of the Gods 
by means of prayer and sacrifice. 

He accounts it a greater crime to believe in indulgent and per- 
suadeable Gods, than noo to believe in any Gods at all. 



EPICURUS. 83 

Every one loves, desires, or aspires to happiness : this is the 
fundamental or primordial law of human nature, beyond which we 
cannot push enquiry. Good, or good things, are nothing else but 
the means to happiness : accordingly every man, loving happiness, 
loves good also, and desires not only full acquisition, but perpetual 
possession of good. 

Epicurus. 

Epicurus, a Greek Philosopher, 280 k. C, in his letter to 
Mencecus gives his Code of Morals, and mode of life, at some 
length, which are as follows: "No one," he says, "ought to think 
himself too young or too old for philosophic contemplation : since 
it is the great business of man to consider what is requisite to the 
living well : happily as regards himself, and worthily as regards his 
relations to society. And in the first place as a needful constituent 
of this knowledge, we must take care that, believing God to be an 
immortal and perfectly happy Being, we attribute nothing to Him 
that is inconsistent with these attributes." Seneca reproached 
Epicurus with reverencing God only as a parent, to be honored and 
worshipped for His excellence, without thinking of any gain to be 
obtained by so doing. 

"The wise man," continues Epicurus, "will not consider the 
loss of life an evil, but as food is chosen for its quality, rather than 
its quantity, so he will endeavor to make his life pleasant rather 
than long. It is needful to satisfy our physical wants in a certain 
degree, both for the sake of living in comfort, and in order to keep 
the body tranquil, so as to leave the mind free from disturbance, 
for our endeavor should be to avoid suffering and perturbation • 
since pleasure is the great object of life. But it is not every kind 
of pleasure that will be sought by a wise man ; for luxurious feasts 
are not needful to him who by temperance and exerc'se has made 
his bread and water sweet to his taste ; therefore when I speak of 
pleasure as the summum bonum ; I do not mean licentious pleasures- 
for he only enjoys a truly happy life, who examines his desires by 
the light of sober reason, and determines which ought to be qualified, 
which repressed. In short, no man can live happily who does not 
live wisely and justly, and no man can live wisely and justly with- 
out being happy, for virtue and happiness cannot be separated. Nay, 
were it possible, it would be better to live wisely and to be 
unhappy, than to be irrational and fortunate. One who acts on 



84 APPENDIX. 

these principles lives among men as if lie were already a god; lie 
has nothing about him that resembles the brute animal, but though 
a man, he lives among the immortals." 

Socrates. 

Socrates, who taught 430 years B. C, remarks, that honorable 
things are good things, and that every one without exception 
desires good. On this point all men are alike ; the distinctive 
features of virtue must then consist in the power of acquiring good 
things, such as health, wealth, money, power, dignities, &c. But 
the acquisition of these things is not virtuous, unless it be made 
consistently with justice and moderation. 

Socrates recommends virtue on the ground of its remunerative 
consequences to the agent, in the shape of wealth and other good 
things. He, as well as Xenophon, agree in the same doctrine : 
presenting virtue as laborious and troublesome in itself, but as being 
fully requited by its remunerative consequences in the form of 
esteem and honor, to the attainment of which it is indispensable. 

When I have learnt, says Socrates, which are my worst and 
which are my best points, I shall evidently be in a condition to 
cultivate and pursue the latter, and resolutely to avoid the former. 

My mission from the Gods, says Socrates, is to dispel the false 
persuasion of knowledge, to cross-examine men into a painful con- 
viction of their own ignorance, and to create in them a lively 
impulse towards knowledge and virtue. 

Justice, which is good both in itself, and by reason of its con- 
sequences, I rank among the noblest qualities. 

The just man should act with a view to good. 

The just man is happy, and the unjust miserable. 

Socrates maintains, that justice is good, per se, ensuring the 
happiness of the agent by its direct and intrinsic effects- on the 
mind : whatever its ulterior consequences may be. He maintains 
indeed that these ulterior consequences are also good : but that 
they do not constitute the paramount benefit ; or the main recom- 
mendation of justice : that the good of Justice, per se, is much 
greater. 

The fundamental principle (Socrates affirms) to which cities 
or communities owe their origin, is, existence or wants and neces- 
sities in all men. No single man is sufficient for himself : every 
one is in want of many things, and is therefore compelled to seek 
communion or partnership with neighbors and auxiliaries. Reci- 



SOCRATES. 85 

procal dealings begin : each gives to others, and receives from others, 
under the persuasion that it is better for him to do so. 

In regard to religion, the raising of temples, arrangement of 
sacrifices, &c, we know nothing about these matters. We must 
examine it, and see where we can find Justice and Injustice. 

Justice is in the mind what health is in the body, when the parts 
are so arranged as to control, and be controlled pursuant to the 
dictates of nature. Injustice is in the mind what disease is in the 
body, when the parts are so arranged as to control, and be con- 
trolled contrary to the dictates of nature ; virtue is thus health, 
beauty, good condition of the mind : vice is the disease, ugliness, 
weakness of the mind. 

It is profitable to a man to be just, and to do justice, per se, even 
though he be not known as just either by Gods or men, and may 
thus be debarred from the consequences which would ensue if he 
were known. It is unprofitable to him to be unjust, even though 
he can continue to escape detection and punishment. As health 
is the greatest good, and sickness the greatest evil of the body : 
so Justice is the greatest good, and Injustice the greatest evil of 
the mind. 

Socrates says, that the Gods are good, and therefore cannot be 
the cause of anything except good. The Gods must be announced 
as causes of all the good which exists. No poetical tale can be 
tolerated which represents the Gods as assuming the forms of 
different persons, and going about to deceive men into false beliefs. 

A perfectly reasonable man will account death no great evil. 

If a man passes his life pleasurable until its close, it may be said 
that he has lived well : at least, provided he lives taking pleasure 
in fine or honorable things. 

To do wrong is worse than to suffer wrong, as well as more 
disgraceful. 

If a man be punished for wrong doing, he suffers what is just, 
and the punisher does what is just. 

We ought to do — continues Socrates— what is pleasing for the 
sake of what is good : not vice versa. But every thing becomes 
good by possessing its appropriate virtue or regulation. The regu- 
lation appropriate to the mind is, to be temperate. The temperate 
man will do what is just — his duty towards men : and what is 
holy — hi s duty towards the Gods. He will be just and holy. He 
will therefore also be courageous : for he will seek only such plea- 



$6 APPENDIX. 

sures as duty permits, and he will endure all such pains as duty 
requires. Being thus temperate, just, brave, holy, he will be a per- 
fectly good man, doing well and honorably throughout. The man 
who does well, will be happy : the man who does ill, and is wicked, 
will be miserable. 

Every thing has its own fixed and determinate essence, not 
relative to us nor varying according to our will and pleasure, but 
existing, per se, as nature has arranged. All agencies, either by one 
thing upon other things, or by other things upon it, are in like man- 
ner determined by nature, independent of our will and choice. 

Xenophanes. 

Xenophanes maintained that there was but one God, identical 
with, or a personification of the whole Uranus. " The whole 
Kosmos, or the whole God, sees, hears, and thinks." The divine 
nature, he said, did not admit of the conception of separate persons, 
one governing the other, or of want and imperfection in any way. 

Herakleitus. 

Herakleitus says, " Every man, individually considered, was 
irrational : reason belonged only to the universal or to the whole, 
with which the mind of each living man was in conjunction, renew- 
ing itself by perpetual absorption, inspiration or inhalation, 
transition, and impressions through the senses." 

Protagoras. 

Protagoras asserts that no good citizen can be without a 6ense of 
justice, and ol shame. 

Grecian History. 

Orpheus, a Thracian, visited Egypt and brought from thence 
the doctrines with which he afterwards corrupted the simple reli- 
gion of Greece, The doctrine he taught was that of One, Self-exis- 
tent God, the Maker of all things, who is present to us in all His 
works ; but this great truth was disguised under a mass of fables. 

Orpheus taught that the One Supreme Deity was the source of 
all, and that tutelary gods of air, fire, earth, &c, were in fact only 
emanations of his power made manifest to men by visible and tan- 
gible objects. But when the Most High was no longer to be 
approached by the vulgar, the especial manifestations was soon 



SACRED BOOK OF THE MEXICANS. 87 

individualized, and a polytheism, which probably the first intro- 
ducers of this mysterious doctrine, never contemplated, was built 
upon it. 

The mysterious doctrine of Orpheus, which gave tangibility and 
distinctness to the notions of the Deity, soon struck the imagina- 
tions of the poet. Homer and Hesiod took it up and finished the 
individualizing process by giving names and forms to the various 
sub-deities of the different powers of nature. Yet these were for a 
long time, only the poetical version of the old belief: the one Su- 
preme God still held the reins, and Destiny was looked up to as 
the ruler of these sub-gods no less than of men. 

Sacred Book of the Mexicans. 

We gather the following from Mliller : A book called " Popol 
Vuh," and pretending to be the original text of the sacred writings 
of the Indians of Central America. The " Popol Vuh" is a literary 
composition in the true sense of the word. It contains the mythol- 
ogy and history of the civilized races of Central America, and 
comes before us with credentials that will bear the test of critical 
inquiry. 

11 Popol Vuh" means the book of the people, and referred to the 
traditional literature in which all that was known about the early 
history of the nation, their religion and ceremonies, was handed 
down from age to age. We find material for studying their char- 
acter, for analyzing their religion and mythology, for comparing 
their principles of morality, their views of virtue, beauty, and 
heroism, to those of other races of mankind. This is the charm, the 
real and lasting charm, of such works as that presented to us for 
the first time in a trustworthy translation by the Abbe Brasseur de 
Bourbourg. There are some coincidences between the Old Testa- 
ment and the Quiche MS. which are certainly startling. Yet even 
if a Christian influence has to be admitted, much remains in these 
American traditions which is so different from anything else in the 
national literatures of other countries, that we may safely treat it 
as the genuine growth of the intellectual soil of America. 

Extracts from " Popol Vuh." 

The Quiche MS. begins with an account of the creation, the 
Quiches believed that there was a time when all that exists in hea- 
ven and earth was made. All was then in suspense, all was calm 



88 APPENDIX. 

and silent ; all was immovable, all peaceful, and the vast space of 
the heavens was empty. There was no man, no animal, no shore, 
no trees ; heaven alone existed. The face of the earth was not to 
be seen ; there was only the still expanse of the sea and the heaven 
above. Divine beings were on the waters like a growing light* 
Their voice was heard as they meditated and consulted, and when 
the dawn arose, man appeared. Then the waters were commanded 
to retire ; the earth was established, that she might bear fruit, and 
that the light of day might shine on heaven and earth. 

" For, they said, we shall receive neither glory nor honor from all 
we have created until there is a human being — a being endowed 
with reason. ' Earth ' they said, and in a moment the earth was 
formed. Like a vapor it rose into being, mountains appeared from 
the waters like lobsters, and the great mountains were made. — 
Thus was the creation of the earth, when it was fashioned by those 
who are the Heart of heaven, the Heart of the earth ; for thus were 
they called who first gave fertility to them, heaven and earth being 
still inert and suspended in the midst of the waters." 

Then follows the creation of the brute world, and the disappoint- 
ment of the gods when they commanded the animals to tell their 
names, and to honor those who had created them. Then the gods 
said to the animals : 

"You will be changed, because you cannot speak. We have 
changed your speech. You shall have your food and your dens in 
the woods and crags ; for our glory is not perfect, and you do not 
invoke us. There will be beings still that can salute us ; we shall 
make them capable of obeying. Do your task ; as to your flesh, it 
will be broken by the tooth." 

Then follows the creation of man. His flesh was made of earth — 
terre glaise. — But man was without cohesion or power, inert and 
aqueous ; he could not turn his head, his sight was dim, and though 
he had the gift of speech, he had no intellect. He was soon con- 
sumed again in the water. 

And the gods consulted a second time how to create beings that 
should adore them, and after some magic ceremonies, men were 
made of wood, and they multiplied. But they had no heart, no 
intellect, no recollection of their Creator ; they did not lift up their 
heads to their Maker, and they withered away and were swallowed 
up by the waters. 



SACRED BOOK OF THE MEXICANS. 89 

Then follows a third creation, man being made of a tree called 
" tzite," woman of the marrow of a reed called "sibac" They, 
too, did neither think or speak before him who had made them, 
and they were likewise swept away by the waters and destroyed. 
The whole nature — animals, trees, and stones — turned against men 
to revenge the wrongs they had suffered at their hands, and the 
only remnant of that early race is to found in small monkeys which 
still live in the forests. 

Three attempts, as we saw, had been made and had failed. We 
now hear again that before the beginning of dawn, and before the 
sun and moon had risen, man had been made, and that nourish- 
ment was provided for him which was to supply his blood, namely, 
yellow and white maize. Four men are mentioned as the real 
ancestors of the human race, or rather of the race of the Quiches. 
They were neither begotten by the gods, nor born of woman, but 
their creation was a wonder wrought by the Creator. They could 
reason and speak, their sight was unlimited, and they knew all 
things at once. When they had rendered thanks to their Creator 
for their existence, the gods were frightened, and they breathed a 
cloud over the eyes of men that they might see a certain distance 
only, and not be like the gods themselves. Then while the four 
men were asleep, the gods gave them beautiful wives, and these 
became the mothers of all tribes, great and small. These tribes, 
hoib white and black, lived and spread in the East. They did not 
yet worship the gods, but only turned their faces up to heaven, 
hardly knowing what they were meant to do here below. Their 
features were sweet, so was their language, and their intellect was 
strong. 

A legend which is current among the Thlinkithians, who are one 
of the four principal races inhabiting Russian America, is as fol- 
lows : They believe in a general flood or deluge, and that men 
saved themselves in a large floating building. When the waters 
fell, the building was wrecked on a rock, and by its own weight 
burst into two pieces. Hence arose the difference of languages. 
The Thlinkithians with their language remained on one side ; on 
the other side were all the other races of the earth. 

Neither the Esthonian nor the Thlinkithian legend, however, 
offers any striking points of coincidence with the Mosaic accounts. 
The analogies, therefore, as well as the discrepancies, between the 



90 APPENDIX. 

ninth chapter of Genesis and the chapter here tranlated from the 
Quiche MS. require special attention. 

Beliefs of the American Indians. 

Miiller says, "the Greenlander believes that when a man dies 
his soul travels to Torngarsuk, the land where reigns perpetual 
summer, all sunshine and no night; where there is good water, 
and birds, and fish, seals, and reindeer without end, that are to be 
caught without trouble, or are found cooking alive in a huge kettle. 
But the journey to this land is difficult ; the souls have to slide 
five days or more down a precipice, all stained with the blood of 
those who have gone down before. And it is especially grievous 
for the poor souls, when the journey must be made in winter or in 
tempest, for then a soul may come to harm, or suffer the other 
death, as they call it. 

The native tribes of the lower end of South America believe in 
two great powers of good and evil, but likewise in a number of 
inferior deities. These are supposed to have been the creators and 
ancestors of different families, and hence when an Indian dies his 
soul goes to live with the deity who presides over his particular 
family. These deities have each their separate habitations in vast 
caverns under the earth, and thither the departed repair to enjoy 
the happiness of being eternally drunk. 

Messrs. Lewis and Clarke give the following account of the belief 
in a future state entertained by another American tribe, the Man- 
dans : 

" Their belief in a future state is connected with this tradition of 
their origin : The whole nation resided in one large village under- 
ground near a subterraneous lake. A grape-vine extended its roots 
down to their habitation and gave them a view of the light. Some 
of the most adventurous climbed up the vine, and were delighted 
with the sight of the earth, which they found covered with buffalo, 
and rich with every kind of fruit. Returning with the grapes they 
had gathered, their countrymen were so pleased with the taste of 
them that the whole nation resolved to leave their dull residence 
for the charms of the upper region. Men, women, and children 
ascended by means of the vine, but when about half the nation had 
reached the surface of the earth, a corpulent woman who was clam- 
bering up the vine, broke it with her weight, and closed upon her- 
self and the rest of the nation the light of the sun. Those who 



BELIEF OF NEW HOLLANDERS— ICELANDERS. 91 

were left on earth made a village below where we saw the vine 
villages ; and when the Mandans die they expect to return to the 
original seats of their forefathers, the good reaching the ancient 
village by means of the lake, which the burden of the sins of the 
wicked will not enable them to cross." 

Catlin's account of the Choctaw belief in a future state is 
equally curious. They hold that the spirit lives after death, and 
that it has a great distance to travel towards the west ; that it has 
to cross a dreadful, deep, and rapid stream, over which, from hill 
to hill, there lies a long, slippery pine log, with the bark peeled off. 
Over this the dead have to pass before they reach the delightful 
hunting-grounds. The good walk on safely, though six people 
from the other side throw stones at them ; but the wicked, trying 
to dodge the stones, slip off the log and fall thousands of feet into 
the water which is dashing over the rocks. 

Belief of the New Hollanders. 

The New Hollanders, according to Mr. Oldfield, believe that all 
who are good men and have been properly buried, enter heaven 
after death. Heaven, which is the abode of the two good divinities, 
is represented as a delightful place, where there is abundance of 
game and food, never any excess of heat or cold, rain or drought, 
no malign spirits, no sickness or death ; but plenty of rioting, sing- 
ing, and dancing for evermore. They also believe in an evil spirit 
who dwells in the nethermost regions, and, strange to say, they 
represent him with horns and a tail. 

Of the Icelanders. 

The following traditions in relation to creation are contained in 
the book Edda, the sacred book of the Icelanders. 

" 'Twas the morning of time, 
When yet naught was, 
Nor sand nor sea were there, 
Nor cooling streams; 
Earth was not formed, 
Nor heaven above ; 
A yawning gap there was, 
And grass nowhere." 

In the " Edda," man is said to have been created out of an ash- 
tree, and God is portrayed as follows: "Who is first and eldest of 



92 APPENDIX. 

all gods?" He is called " Allfadir," — the Father of All, the Great 
Father — in our tongue. He lives from all ages, and rules over his 
realm and sways all things, great and small. He made heaven and 
earth, and the sky, and all that belongs to them ; and he made 
man, and gave him a soul that shall live and never perish, though 
the body rot to mould, or burn to ashes. All men that are right- 
minded shall live, and be with him in a place called " Vingolf:" 
but wicked ones fare to Hell and thence into Niflhell, that is, 
beneath in the ninth world. 

Christian Theology no Restraint. 

We have heretofore remarked that all motives to virtue have 
their only foundation in, and all good works proceed from, the moral 
faculties — that is the conscience, and the instincts originally given 
to man ; and that the evil-doings of man find their only check or 
restraint in this reflex of God in man. There is no restraint found 
in the Christian theology, or elsewhere, not found in every man's 
conscience : while on the other hand, history shows us that Chris- 
tianity has been the most powerful of all agents in stifling the voice 
of conscience, and in bringing horrors and calamities upon man- 
kind. The assertion may seem a startling one, but its truth can 
scarcely be denied by the reader, who follows us through the dismal 
record of great crimes committed by people supposed to be specially 
chosen of God and enjoying his immediate supervision, by others 
taking the Old Testament as their guide, and by others still, whose 
iniquities and atrocities were perpetrated in the name of Jesus. 
We propose to glance successively, at the bloody contentions of the 
early Church; at the crimes and corruptions of the Church during 
the Middle Ages ; at the Crusades ; at the persecutions of the Jews 
by the Christians; at the sacrifice of human life in the so-called 
holy wars waged by Christians for theological opinions alone ; at 
the persecution of the Protestants by the Catholics; at the massacre 
of St. Bartholomew, under a king, one of whose titles was, the 
" Most Christian ;" at the cruel course of Spain in overrunning and 
despoiling Mexico and Peru. 

Let us commence with the 

Contentions of the Early Church. 

From the Trinitarian controversy which began in the reign of 
Constantine — about A. D. 323 — we may date the introduction of 



CONTENTIONS OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 93 

rigorous articles of belief, which required the submissive assent of 
the mind to every word and letter of an established creed, and 
which raised the slightest heresy of opinions into a more fatal 
offence against God,* and a more odious crime in the estimation of 
man, than the worst moral delinquency or the most flagrant devia- 
tion from the spirit of Christianity. 

Such was the question which led to all the evils of human 
strife, — hatred, persecution, bloodshed. 

The distribution of the superior dignities of the Church became 
an object of fatal ambition and strife. The streets of Alexandria 
and of Constantinople were deluged with blood by the partisans 
of rival bishops. 

In the latter, an officer of high distinction, sent by the Emperor 
to quell the tumult, was slain, and his body treated with the utmost 
indignity by the infuriated populace. 

The triumph of the Catholics in Egypt was accompanied by 
every variety of plunder, murder, sacrilege and outrage, and Arius 
himself was probably poisoned by Catholic hands. The followers 
of St. Cyril of Alexandria, who were chiefly monks, filled their 
city with riot and bloodshed, wounded the prefect Orestes, dragged 
the pure and gifted Hypatia into one of their churches, murdered 
her, tore the flesh from her bones with sharp shells, and having 
stripped her body naked, flung the mangled remains into the flames. 
In Ephesus,- during the contest between St. Cyril and the Nesto- 
rians, the cathedral itself was the theatre of a fierce and bloody 
conflict. Constantinople, on the occasion of the deposition of St. 
Ohrysostom, was for several days in a condition of absolute anarchy. 
After the Council of Chalcedon, Jerusalem and Alexandria were 
again convulsed, and the Bishop of the latter city was murdered 
in his baptistry. Athanasius stand out as the prominent char- 
acter of the period in the history of Christianity. That history is 
one long controversy, the life of Athanasius, one unwearied and 
incessant strife. It is neither the serene course of a being elevated 
by his religion above the cares and tumults of ordinary life, nor 
the restless activity of one perpetually employed in a conflict with 
the ignorance, vice, and misery of an unconverted people. Yet 
even now (so completely has this polemic spirit become incor- 
porated with Christianity) the memory of Athanasius is regarded 
by many wise and good men with reverence, which in Catholic 
countries, is actual adoration, in Protestant approaches towards it. 



94 APPENDIX. 

A council was held at Tyre, in which Athanasius was deposed 
and Gregory appointed in his stead. Scenes of savage conflict 
ensued, the churches were taken as it were by storm ; the priests 
of the Athanasian party were treated with the utmost indignity ; 
virgins scourged ; every atrocity perpetuated by unbridled multi- 
tudes, embittered by every shade of religious faction. Athanasius 
returned for a time to Alexandria, but was again deposed. 

The Arians exacted ample vengeance for their long period of 
depression, houses were plundered, monasteries burned ; tombs 
broken open, to search for concealed Athanasians, or for the 
prelate himself, who still eluded their pursuit, bishops were 
insulted ; virgins scourged : the soldiery encouraged to break up 
every meeting of the Catholics by violence, and even by inhuman 
tortures. The duke Sebastian, at the head of three thousand 
troops, charged a meeting of the Athanasian Christians. No 
barbarity was too revolting; they are said to have employed 
instruments of torture to compel them to Christian unity with the 
Arians ; females were scourged with the prickly branches of the 
palm tree. 

Persecution was universal — persecution by every means of 
violence and cruelty ; the only question was, in whose hands was 
the power to persecute. Bloodshed, murder, treachery, assassina- 
tion, even during the public worship of God — these were the 
frightful means by which each party strove to maintain its opinions, 
and to defeat its adversary. The most unaggressive and unobtru- 
sive forms of Paganism were persecuted with the same ferocity. 

To offer a sacrifice was to commit a capital offence, — and yet the 
offering of Jesus as a sacrifice for man's sin, is claimed as the 
foundation of Christian Theology. --To hang up a simple chaplet 
was to incur the forfeiture of an estate. 

Contrast with this, the policy of the Pagan emperor, Julian, 
thus described by his favorite orator : 

" He thought that neither fire, nor sword, could change the faith 
of mankind : the heart disowns the hand which is compelled by 
terror to sacrifice. Persecutions only make hypocrites who are 
unbelievers throughout life, or martyrs honored after death." He 
strictly prohibited the putting to death the Galileans — his favorite 
appellation of the Christians, — as worthy rather of compassion than 
of hatred. Julian revoked the sentence of banishment pronounced 
against Arians, Apollinarians, and Donatists. He determined, it 



LATER CRIMES OF THE CHURCH. 95 

is said, to expose them to a sort of public exhibition of intellectual 
gladiatorship. He summoned the advocates of the several sects 
to dispute in his presence, and presided with mock solemnity over 
their debates. His own voice was drowned in the clamor, till at 
length, as though to contrast them, to their disadvantage, with the 
wild barbarian warriors with whom he had been engaged. " Hear 
me," exclaimed the emperor : " The Franks and the Alemanni 
have heard me." " No wild beasts," he said, " Are so savage and 
intractable as Christian sectaries." 

During the reign of Anastasius, two hundred Eastern monks, 
headed by Severus, were permitted to land in Constantinople ; 
they here found an honorable reception. Other monks of the 
opposite faction swarmed from Palestine. The two black cowled 
armies watched each other for some months, working in secret on 
their respective partisans. 

At last there was a wild, fierce fray, the presence ol the 
Emperor lost its awe ; he could not maintain the peace. The 
Bishop Macedonius took the lead. Men, women, children, poured 
out from all quarters ; the monks, at the head of the raging 
multitude, echoed their religious war cries. 

Throughout Asiatic Christendom it was the same wild struggle. 
Bishops were deposed quietly ; or where resistance was made, the 
two factions fighting in the streets, in the churches : cities, even the 
holiest places ran with Christian blood. — Milmans History of 
Christianity. 

Later Crimes of the Church. 

In A. D. 498, the feuds of the Roman clergy, broke out on the 
customary occasion of the election of a new Pope. Each party 
elected their Pope. The two factions encountered with the fiercest 
hostility ; the clergy, the senate, and the populace were divided ; 
the streets of the Christian city ran with blood. The contest was 
decided by Theodoric, the Gothic king of Italy. But not long 
after, the sanguinary tumults between the two factions broke out 
with greater fury : priests were slain, monasteries fired, and even 
sacred virgins treated with the utmost indignity. 

With the power of the clergy increased both those other sources 
of influence, pomp and wealth. 

Distinctions in station and in authority naturally lead to distinc- 
tions in manners, and those adventitious circumstances of dress and 



96 APPENDIX. 

habits, which designate different ranks. The ministering function- 
aries multiplied, with the rapidly increasing variety and pomp. 

At the festival of a martyr, the day closed with an open ban- 
quet, in which all the worshippers were invited to partake. As 
the evening drew on, the solemn and religious thoughts gave way 
to other emotions, the wine flowed freely, and the healths of the 
mar.yrs were pledged, not unfrequently to complete inebriety. 
Dances were admitted, pantomimic spectacles were exhibited, the 
festivals were prolonged till late in the evening, or to midnight, so 
that other criminal irregularities profaned, if not the sacred edifice, 
its immediate neighborhood. 

A demoniac accused the Bishop Fortunatus of refusing him the 
rights of hospitality ; a poor peasant receives the possessed into his 
house, and is punished for this inferential disrespect to the Bishop, 
by seeing his child cast into the fire and burnt before his eyes. 
A poor fellow with a monkey and cymbals is struck dead for unin- 
tentionally interrupting a Bishop Boniface in prayer. 

In A. D. 726, the emperor Leo issued an edict, commanding the 
total destruction of all images, and the white- washing the walls of 
the churches. The thronging multitude, saw with horror, the officer 
mount the ladder. The women seized the ladder, threw down the 
officer, and beat him to death with clubs. The emperor sent an 
armed guard to suppress the tumult; a frightful massacre took 
place. The pious were punished with mutilations, scourgings, 
exile, confiscation : the schools of learning were closed, a magnifi- 
cent library burned to the ground. 

At the accession of Constantine Copronymus, two religious par- 
ties divided the empire. A battle took place near Ancira, fought 
with all the ferocity of civil and religious war. The historian 
expresses his horror that, among Christians, fathers should thus be 
engaged in the slaughter of their children, brothers of brothers. 

Charlemagne was prodigal of grants of land to churches and 
monasteries. But these estates were not always obtained from the 
pious generosity of the king or the nobles. The stewards of the 
poor were the spoilers of the poor. They compelled the poor free 
man, to sell his property, or forced him to serve in the army, and 
that on permanent or continual duty, and so to leave his land 
either without owner, with all the chances that he might not return, 
or to commit it to the custody of those who remained at home in 



LATER CRIMES OF THE CHURCH. 97 

quiet and seized every opportunity of entering into possession. 
No Naboth's vineyard escaped their watchful avarice. 

The payment of tithe originated in the following manner: Pepin 
had commanded the payment of tithe for the celebration of pecu- 
liar litanies during a period of famine. Charlemagne made it a 
law of the empire : he enacted it in its most strict and comprehen- 
sive form, as investing the clergy in a right to the tenth of the sub- 
stance, and of the labor alike of freeman and the serf. The collec- 
tion of tithe was regulated by compulsory statutes ; the clergy 
took note of all who paid or refused to pay ; the contumacious were 
three times summoned, if still obstinate, excluded from the church; 
if they still refused to pay, they were fined over and above the 
whole tithe, six solidi ; if further contumacious, the recusant's house 
was shut up ; if he attempted to enter it, he was cast into prison. 
This tithe was by no means a spontaneous votive offering of the 
whole Christian people — it was a tax imposed by Imperial author- 
ity, enforced by Imperial power. It had caused one, if not more 
than one sanguinary insurrection among the Saxons. It was sub- 
mitted to in other parts of the empire, not without strong reluc- 
tance. 

In A. D. 974, during the pontificate of Benedict VI., Bonifazio, a 
Cardinal Deacon, seized the unsuspecting Pope, and cast him into a 
dungeon, where shortly after he was strangled. Bonifazio assumed 
the papacy ; but he had miscalculated the strength of his faction, 
in one month he was forced to fly from the city. Yet he fled 
not with so much haste, but that he carried off all the treasures, 
even the sacred vessels from the church of St. Peter. 

Suddenly the fugitive Bonifazio, re-appeared in Rome, seized 
the Pope, imprisoned him in the Castle of St. Angelo, of which 
important fortress he had become master, and there put him to 
death by starvation or by poison. He exposed the body to the 
view of the people, who dared not murmur, he seated himself, as 
it seems, unresisted, in the papal chair, but soon after died. The 
people revenged themselves for their own base acquiescence in his 
usurpation, by cowardly insults on his dead body ; by dragging it 
through the streets. 

For twelve years Benedict IX. ruled in Rome, in the words of 
one of his successors, Victor III, leading a life so shameful, so foul 
and execrable, that he shuddered to describe it. He ruled like a 
captain of banditti, rather than a prelate. Adulteries, homicides, 

G 



98 APPENDIX. 

perpetrated by his own hand, passed unnoticed, unrevenged. He 
became deeply enamored of his cousin. The father refused his 
daughter, unless the Pope would surrender the papacy. 

He actually sold the papacy to an arch-Presbyter, named John. 

There were at one time three Popes, by themselves, or by their 
factions, engaged in deadly feud. They laid aside, or taught each 
other to despise, their spiritual arms ; they encountered with the 
carnal weapons of ordinary warfare. — Milmaris History of Latin 
Christianity. 

For ten dreary years, — A. D. 1198,— with but short intervals of 
truce, Germany was abandoned to all the horrors of civil war. 
The repeated protestations of Innocent, that he was not the cause 
of these fatal discords, betray the fact that he was accused of the 
guilt ; and that he had to wrestle with his own conscience to 
acquit himself of the charge. It was a war, not of decisive battles, 
but of marauding, desolation, havoc, plunder, wasting of harvests, 
ravaging open and defenceless countries ; war waged by Prelate 
against Prelate, by Prince against Prince ; wild Bohemians and 
bandit soldiers of every race were roving through every province. 
Throughout the land there was no law : the high roads were 
impassable on account of robbers ; traffic cut off, except on the 
great rivers from Cologne down the Rhine, from Ratisbon down the 
Danube; nothing was spared, nothing sacred, church or cloister. 
Some monasteries were utterly impoverished, some destroyed. 
The ferocities of war grew into brutalities ; the clergy and sacred 
persons, were the victims and perpetrators. The wretched nun, 
who, it is said, was stripped naked, anointed with honey, rolled in 
feathers, and then set on a horse with her face to the tail, and 
paraded through the streets, was no doubt only recorded because 
her fate was somewhat more horrible then that of many of her 
sisters. The Abbot of St. Gall seized six of the principal burghers 
of Arbon, and cut off their feet, in revenge for one of his servants 
who had suffered the like mutilation for lopping wood in their 
forests. 

In these times — A. D. 1200 — began the persecutions of the so- 
called Heretics ; for men were beginning to weary of the narrow 
and complicated theology of the Church, and to believe only that 
which they found in their own hearts. Fires were kindled and 
heretics burned, in Oxford, in Rheims, in Arras, in Besan^on, in 
Cologne, in Treves, in Vezelay. In this latter stately monastery, 



LATER CRIMES OF THE CHURCH. 99 

the Archbishops of Lyons and Narbonne, the Bishops of Nevers and 
Laon, and many abbots and great theologians, sat in solemn judg- 
ment on some, it should seem poor ignorant men, called Publicans. 
They denied all but God, they absolutely rejected all the Sacra- 
ments, infant baptism, the Eucharist, the sign of the cross, holy- 
water, the efficacy of tithes, and oblations, marriages, monkhood, the 
power and functions of the priesthood. Appeal was made to the 
whole assembly : " What shall be done with them ? " Let them 
be burned ! Let them be burned ! " And burned they were, to the 
number of seven, in the valley of Ecouan. 

In the market place of Milan were raised, here a cross, there 
blazing pyre. The Heretics were brought forth, commanded to 
throw themselves before the cross, confess their sins, accept the 
Catholic faith, or to plunge into the flames, a few knelt before the 
cross ; the greater number covered their faces, rushed into the fire 
and were consumed. In Cologne also, heretics were thrown into 
the flames. 

But in the twelfth century, Heresy became rampant, bold, 
undisguised. The desperate Church was compelled to resort to 
the irrefragable argument of the sword and the stake. Woe to 
the prince or to the magistrate, who refused to be the executioner 
of the stern law. 

In many places, the people were delighted at seeing a priest 
keep a mistress, that the married women might be safe from his 
seductions. What humiliating scenes did the house of a priest in 
those days present ! The wretched man supported the women and 
the children she had borne him, with the tithes and offerings. His 
conscience was troubled : he blushed in the presence of the people, 
before his domestics, and before God. The mother fearing to come 
to want if the priest should die, made provision against it before- 
hand, and robbed her own house. Her honor was lost. Her 
children were ever a living accusation against her. Despised by 
all, they plunged into quarrels and debauchery. Such was the 
family of the priest ! 

If we go higher in the hierarchical order, we find the corruption 
not less great. The dignitaries of the Church preferred the tumult 
of camps to the hymns of the altar. To be able, lance in hand, 
to reduce his neighbors to obedience was one of the chief qualifica- 
tions of a bishop. Everywhere, the bishops were continually at 
war with their towns. The citizens demanded liberty, the bishops 



100 APPENDIX. 

required implicit obedience. If the latter gained the victorv, they 
punished the revolters by sacrificing numerous victims to their 
vengeance. 

And what a spectacle was presented by the pontifical throne 
in the times immediately preceding the Reformation ! Rome, it 
must be acknowledged, had seldom witnessed so much infamy. 
Rodrigo Borgia, after having lived with a Roman lady, had con- 
tinued the same illicit connection with one of her daughters, named 
Rosa Vanozza, by whom he had five children. He was a cardinal 
and archbishop, living at Rome with Vanozza and other women, 
visiting the churches and the hospitals, when the death of Innocent 
VII. created a vacancy in the pontifical chair. He succeeded in 
obtaining it by bribing each cardinal at a stipulated price. 

On the day of his coronation, his son Caesar, a youth of ferocious 
and dissolute manners, was created archbishop of Valencia and 
bishop of Pampeluna. He next celebrated in the Vatican, themar- 
raige of his daughter Lucretia, by festivities, at which his mistress, 
Julia Bella, was present ; and which were enlivened, by licentious 
plays and songs. " All the clergy," says an historian, "kept mis- 
tresses, and all the convents of the capital were houses of ill-fame." 

Thus had the clergy brought not only themselves, but their faith 
into disrepute. Well might Luther exclaim : The ecclesiastical 
order is opposed to God and to his glory. The people know it 
well ; and this is but too plainly shown by the many songs, by 
proverbs and jokes against the priests, that are current among the 
commonalty, and all those caricatures of monks and priests on 
every wall, and even on the playing cards. Every one feels a 
loathing on seeing or hearing a priest in the distance. The evil 
had spread through all ranks : the corruption of manners corres- 
ponded with the corruption of faith. 

" We Italians" says Machiavelli, " are indebted principally to 
the Church and the priests for having become impious and im- 
moral." 

A great agitation prevailed at that time, A. D. 1517, among the 
German people. The Church had opened a vast market upon 
earth. From the crowds of purchasers, and the shouts and jokes 
of the sellers, it might have been called a fair, but a fair con- 
ducted by monks. The merchandise that they were extolling, and 
which they offered at a reduced price, was, said they, " the salva- 
tion of souls." Tetzel a monk, who played the chief part at these 



LATER CRIMES OF THE CHURCH. 101 

sales, delivered the following sermon: "Indulgences" said he, 
" are the most precious and the most noble of God's gifts. 

" Come, and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, by which 
even the sins that you intend to commit may be pardoned." 
" There is no sin so great, that an indulgence cannot remit." 

"But more than this," said he, "indulgences avail not only for 
the living, but the dead. For that repentance is not even neces- 
sary." 

" Priest ! noble ! merchant ! wife ! youth ! maiden ! do you not 
hear your parents and your other friends who are dead, and who 
cry from the bottom of the abyss : We are suffering horrible tor- 
ments ! a trifling alms would deliver us ; you can give it, and you 
will not !" 

"At the very instant," continued Tetzel, "that the money 
rattles at the bottom of the chest, the soul escapes from purga- 
tory and flies, liberated, to heaven." 

For particular sins, there was a particular tax. For polygamy, it 
was six ducats; for sacrilege and perjury, nine ducats; for murder, 
eight ducats ; for witchcraft, two ducats. 

In a letter given at Rome, under the seal of the Fisherman, in 
November, 1517, Leo requires of his commissary of indulgences 147 
gold ducats, to purchase a manuscript of the thirty-third book of 
Livy. Of all the uses to which he applied the money of the Ger- 
mans, this was undoubtedly the best. Yet it was a strange thing 
to deliver souls from purgatory to procure the means of purchasing 
a manuscript of the history of the Roman wars. 

A married schoolmaster, desiring to enter holy orders, obtained 
his wife's consent with this view, and they separated. The new 
priest, finding it impossible to observe his vow of celibacy, and 
unwilling to wound his wife's feelings, quitted the place w T here she 
lived, and went into the see of Constance, where he formed a crimi- 
nal connection. His wife heard of this and followed him. The 
poor priest had compassion on her, and dismissing the woman who 
had usurped her rights, took his lawful spouse into his house. 
The procurator-fiscal immediately drew up a complaint ; the vicar- 
general was in a ferment ; the councillors of the consistory delibe- 
rated and ordered the curate either to forsake his wife or 

his benefice. The poor wife left her husband's house in tears, and 
her rival re-entered it in triumph. The Church declared itself sat- 
isfied, and from that time the adulterous priest was left undis- 
turbed. — Milmaris Latin Christianity. 



102 APPENDIX. 



The Crusades. 



In the spring of 1096, a large body of the lower orders, under 
the lead of Peter the Hermit, and under the guidance of a goose 
and a goat, began to march across Germany. They were compelled 
to divide, and the smaller party, led by a Burgundian knight, 
Walter the Penniless, going in advance, was annihilated in Bulga- 
ria. The larger party suffered severely, and was guilty of great 
atrocities; but Peter brought the bulk of it to Constantinople, 
where he was joined by Walter. They were landed in Asia, where 
they were nearly all destroyed by the Turks, Peter having left 
them. 

A third division, consisting of Germans, was led by a monk 
named Godeschal, and was massacred in Hungary. A fourth, 
estimated at two hundred thousand, and composed of various peo- 
ples, was led by some nobles, from Germany, but it was destroyed 
by the Hungarians, after having perpetrated terrible outrages. 

The siege of Jerusalem during the first crusade was closed with 
an assault, and a massacre of almost unequalled atrocity. No bar- 
barian, no infidel, no Saracen, ever perpetrated such wanton and 
cold-blooded atrocities of cruelty, as the wearers of the Cross of 
Christ — who, it is said, had fallen on their knees and burst into a 
pious hymn at the first sight of the Holy City — on the capture of 
that city. Murder was mercy, rape tenderness, simple plunder the 
mere assertion of the conqueror's right. Children were seized by 
the legs, some of them plucked from their mother's breasts and 
dashed against the walls, or whirled from the battlements. Others 
were obliged to leap from the walls; some tortured, roasted by slow 
fires. They ripped up prisoners, to see if they had swallowed gold. 
Of seventy thousand Saracens there was not left enough to bury 
the dead ; poor Christians were hired to perform the office. Every 
one surprised in the temple was slaughtered, till the reek from the 
dead bodies drove away the slayers. The Jews were burned alive 
in their synagogue. Even the day after, all who had taken refuge 
on the roofs were hewn to pieces. 

At the surrender of Acre, during the third Crusade, the crusa- 
ders, in violation of their word, butchered five thousand Mussel- 
men who had been left in their hands as hostages. 

Bootless carnage, distinguished the crusades from almost all 
other wars ; the unseemly spectacle of crimes, cruelties, unbridled 



THE CRUSADES. 103 

licentiousness, strife, jealousies, and treacheries too often prevailed 
in the Christian camp. 

To all who embarked in the crusades, the Pope promised, on 
their sincere repentance, the remission of all their sins, and eternal 
life in the great day of retribution. Those who were unable to 
proceed in person, might obtain the same remission in proportion 
to the bounty of their offerings. 

The Crusaders advanced to the siege of Constantinople, a Chris- 
tian city, in the name of Christ. 

Nicetas, himself an eye-witness and sufferer in these scenes, con- 
trasts the discipline and and self-denial of the Mohammedans, who 
under Saladin, stormed Jerusalem, with the rapacity, the lust, the 
cruelty of the Christian conquerors of Constantinople. They 
spared neither religion, nor age, nor sex ; they practiced fornica- 
tions, incests, adulteries, in the sight of men ; aba.ndoned matrons 
and virgins dedicated to God, to the lewdness of grooms. Many 
rushed at once to the churches and monasteries. In the church of 
Santa Sophia, the silver was rent off from the magnificent pulpit : 
the table of oblation, admired for its precious material and exqui- 
site workmanship, broken to pieces. Mules and horses were led 
into the churches to carry off the ponderous vessels ; if they slipped 
down on the smooth floor, they were forced to rise up by lash 
and spur, so that their blood flowed on the pavement. 

A prostitute mounted the Patriach's throne, and screamed out a 
disgusting song, accompanied with the most offensive gestures. 

Instead of the chants, the aisles rung with wild shouts of revelry 
or indecent oaths and imprecations. 

But, according to the theory of the Church, the erring believer 
was as declared an enemy to God, as the Pagan or the Islamite : in 
one respect more inexcusable and odious, as obstinately resisting or 
repudiating the truth. The heretic appeared to the severely ortho- 
dox Christian, as worse than the unbeliever, he was a revolted sub- 
ject; not a foreign enemy. Civil wars are always the most fero- 
cious. Excommunication from the Christian Church implied out- 
lawry from Christian society ; the heretic forfeited not only all 
dignities, rights, privileges, immunities, even all property, ail pro- 
tection by law ; he was to be pursued, taken, despoiled, put to 
death, either by the ordinary course of justice — the temporal 
authority was bound to execute, even to blood, the sentence of the 
ecclesiastical court, — or if he dared to resist by any means what- 



104 APPENDIX. 

ever, however peaceful, he was an insurgent, against whom the 
whole of Christendom might, or rather was bound at the summons 
of the spiritual power to declare war; his estates, even his domin- 
ions, if a sovereign, were not merely liable to forfeiture, but the 
Church assumed the power of awarding the forfeiture, as it might 
seem best to her wisdom. 

The army which should execute the mandate of the Church was 
the army of the Church, and the banner of that army was the Cross 
of Christ. So began Crusades, not on the contested borders of 
Christendom, not in Mohammedan or heathen lands, in Palestine, 
on the shores of the Nile, among the Livonian forests or the sands 
of the Baltic, but in the very bosom of Christendom ; not among 
the implacable partisans of an antagonistic creed, but among those 
who still called themselves by the name of Christians. — Milmaris 
History of Latin Christianity. 

The Persecution of the Jews. 

When the horde of fanatics under the command of Peter the 
Hermit, was assembled near the city of Treves, a murmur rapidly 
spread through the camp, that while they were advancing to 
recover the sepulchre of their Eedeemer from the Infidels, they 
were leaving behind worse unbelievers, the murderers of the Lord. 
In the words of Jewish tradition, no doubt generally faithful in its 
record of their calamities, " the abominable Germans and French 
rose up against them, — people of a fierce countenance, that had no 
respect to the persons of the old, neither have they mercy upon the 
young ; and they said, ' Let us be revenged for our Messiah upon 
the Jews that are among us, and let us destroy them from being a 
nation, that the name of Israel maybe had no more in remem- 
brance; then will we go to the East.' " With one impulse the 
Crusaders rushed to the city, and began a relentless pillage, viola- 
tion, and massacre of every Jew they could find. In this horrible 
day men were seen to slay their own children, to save them from 
the worse usage of these savages. Women, having deliberately tied 
stones round themselves that they might sink, plunged from the 
bridge, to save their honor and escape baptism. Their husbands had 
rather send them to the bosom of Abraham than leave them to the 
mercy, or rather the lustful cruelties of the Christians. The rest 
fled to the bishop's palace as a place of refuge. They were received 
by the bishop, Engelbert, with these words : — " Wretches, your 



THE PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS. 105 

sins have come upon you ; ye who have blasphemed the Son of God 
and calumniated his Mother. This is the cause of your present 
miseries , — this, if ye persist in your obduracy, will destroy your 
body and soul forever." The same bloody scenes were repeated in 
Metz, in Spiers, in "Worms, in Mayence, in Cologne. The locust 
band passed on ; everywhere the tracks of the Crusaders were 
deeply marked with Jewish blood. A troop under Count Emico, 
offered the same horrid sacrifices to the God of Mercy, in the cities 
on the Maine and the Danube, even as far as Hungary. 

There was at Seville a fierce popular preacher, Ferdinand 
Martinez, Archdeacon of Ecija. During the reign of John I., his 
inflammatory harangues against the obstinacy and the usury and 
the wealth of the Jews, had excited the populace. The Jewries 
were attacked ; and a general pillage, violation, and massacre 
took place of men and women, old and young. Fire and sword 
raged unresisted through these quarters of the city. The streets 
of noble Seville ran with blood, and the wild voice of the Arch- 
deacon in the pulpit rose over all, and kept up the madness. Four 
thousand Jews perished in the massacre. 

The terrible example of their impunity the fame of the blood 
which they had shed without rebuke, the wealth which they had 
acquired without restitution, spread throughout the kingdom. 
Hardly more than a year had passed, when in one day — August 
8 — the populace rose in Cordova, in Valencia, in Toledo, in Burgos. 
Each of these cities, says a Spanish author, was another Troy. 
All the horrors of a town taken by storm were suffered by the 
Jewries : plunder, rape, massacre, conflagration. 

In 1492 appeared the fatal edict commanding all unbaptized 
Jews to quit the realm of Spain in four months. 

For three centuries their fathers had dwelt in this delightful 
country, which they had fertilized with their industry, enriched 
with their commerce, adorned with their learning. Yet there 
were few examples of weakness or apostasy ; the whole race, — 
variously calculated at 166,000, 300,000, 650,000, or 800,000,— in a 
lofty spirit of self-devotion — we envy not that mind which cannot 
appreciate its real greatness, — determined to abandon all rather 
than desert the religion of their fathers. They left the homes of 
their youth, the scenes of their early associations, the sacred graves 
of their ancestors, the more recent tombs of their own friends and 
relatives. They left the synagogues in which they had so long 



106 APPENDIX. 

worshipped their God ; the schools where those wise men had taught 
who had thrown a lustre which shone, even through the darkness 
of the age, upon the Hebrew name. They were allowed four 
months to prepare for this everlasting exile. The unbaptized Jew 
found in the kingdom after that period was condemned to death. 
The persecutor could not even trust the hostile feeling of his 
bigoted subjects to execute his purpose, a statute was thought 
necessary, prohibiting any Christian from harboring a Jew after 
that period. Many were sold for slaves ; Christendom swarmed 
with them. The wealthier were permitted to carry away their 
movables, excepting gold and silver, for which they were to accept 
letters of change or any merchandise not prohibited. Their 
property they might sell ; but the market was soon glutted, and 
the cold-hearted purchasers waited till the last instant, to wring 
from their distress the hardest terms. A contemporary author 
states that he saw Jews give a house for an ass, and a vineyard 
for a small quantity of cloth or linen. Yet many of them con- 
cealed their gold and jewels in their clothes and saddles ; some 
swallowed them, in hopes thus at least to elude the scrutiny of the 
officers. The Jews consider this calamity almost as dreadful as 
the taking and ruin of Jerusalem. For whither to fly ? And 
where to find a more hospitable shore ? Incidents, which make 
the blood run cold, are related of the miseries which they suffered. 
Some of those from Aragon found their way into Navarre ; others 
to the sea-shore, where they set sail for Italy, or the coast of 
Morocco ; others crossed the frontier into Portugal. " Many of 
the former were cast away, or sunk," says a Jewish writer, " like 
lead, into the ocean." On board the ship which was conveying a 
great number to Africa, the plague broke out. The captain 
ascribed the infection to his circumcised passengers, and set them 
all on shore, on a desert coast, without provisions. They dispersed: 
one, a father, saw his beautiful wife perish before his eyes — fainted 
himself with exhaustion — and, waking, beheld his two children 
dead by his side. 

In Portugal the king named a day for all Jews to quit the king- 
dom, and appointed certain ports for their embarkation. Before 
that time he issued another secret order to seize all children under 
fourteen years of age, to tear them from the arms, the bosoms of 
their parents, and dispersed them through the kingdom, to be 
baptized and brought up as Christians. The secret transpired, and 



ALBIGENSIAN WAR. 107 

lest they should conceal their children, it was instantly put in 
execution. Great God of Mercy, this was in the name of Chris- 
tianity! Frantic mothers threw their children into the wells and 
rivers, — they destroyed them with their own hands. One mother 
threw herself at the feet of the king as he was riding to church. 
She had alread} T lost six children ; she implored that her youngest 
might be spared to her. The courtiers repelled her with scorn and 
ill-usage. The king told them to let her go, " the poor bitch 
deprived of her whelps ! " — Milmaris History of Christianity. 

Albigensian War. 

Never in the history of man were the great eternal principles 
of justice, the faith of treaties, common humanity, so trampled 
under foot as in the Albigensian war. Never was war waged in 
which ambition, the consciousness of strength, rapacity, implaca- 
ble hatred, and pitiless cruelty, played a greater part. And 
throughout the war it cannot be disguised that it was not merely 
the army of the Church, but the Church itself in arms. Papal 
legates and the greatest prelates headed the host, and mingled in 
all the horrors of the battle and the siege. In no instance did 
they interfere to arrest the massacre, in some cases they urged it 
on. " Slay all, God will know his own," was the boasted saying of 
Abbot Arnold, Legate of the Pope, before Beziers. Arnold was 
the Captain- General of the army. Hardly one of the great pre- 
lates of France stood aloof. 

In A. D., 1207, the army appeared before Beziers, which, in the 
strength of its walls and the courage of its inhabitants, ventured 
on bold defiance. The Bishop Reginald of Montpellier demanded 
the surrender of all whom he might designate as heretics. On 
their refusal of these terms, the city was stormed. A general mas- 
sacre followed ; neither age nor sex were spared ; even priests fell 
in the remorseless carnage. In the Church of St. Mary Magda- 
lene were killed seven thousand by the defenders of the sanctity 
of the Church. The account of the slain is variously estimated 
from twenty thousand even up to fifty thousand. The city was 
set on fire, even the Cathedral perished in the flames. The law of 
conquest was put in force. The lands of a heretic were as the 
lands of a Saracen. 

The barbarity at Lavour passed all precedent, even in this fear- 
ful war. A general massacre was permitted ; men, women, chil- 



108 APPENDIX. 

dren were cut to pieces, till there remained nothing to kill except 
some of the garrison, and others reserved for a more cruel fate. 
Four hundred were burned in one great pile, which made a won- 
derful blaze, and caused universal rejoicing in the camp. Aymeric 
of Montreal, the commander, was brought, with eighty nobles — 
Lavour seems to have been thought a safe place of refuge — before 
De Montfort. He ordered them all to be hanged ; the overloaded 
gibbets broke down; they were hewn in pieces. Giralda, the Lady 
of Lavour, was thrown into a well, and huge stones rolled down 
upon her. The Bishops preached in vain to five hundred heretics, 
but converted not one; sixty, however, they burned with great joy. 

In 1487, Innocent VIII., the father of the Romans, issued a bull 
against the Waldenses. "To arms" said the pontiff, "and tram- 
ple these heretics under foot as venomous serpents." 

At the approach of the Legate, followed by an army of eighteen 
thousand men, and a number of volunteers who wished to share 
the spoils of the Waldenses, the latter abandoned their houses and 
took refuge in the mountains, caverns, and clefts of the rocks, as 
the birds flee for shelter when the storm begins to lower. Not a 
valley, nor a wood, nor a rock escaped their persecutors ; every- 
where in this part of the Alps, and particularly on the Italian side, 
these poor disciples of Christ were hunted down like beasts of prey. 
At last the Pope's satellites were worn out ; their strength was ex- 
hausted, their feet could no longer scale the steep retreats of the 
" heretics," and their arms refused to strike. 

The Reformation had made considerable progress among the peo- 
ple of the Netherlands during the reign of Charles V., and Philip, 
soon after his accession, undertook to root out entirely the new doc- 
trines, and to restore the exclusive supremacy of the Roman Catho- 
lic Church. 

An insurrection of the Protestants, breaking out in Flanders, 
August 14, 1566, Philip determined to resort to the most severe 
measures to suppress Protestantism, and accordingly the cruel 
duke of Alva, a soldier of great reputation, was sent to the Nether- 
lands in 1567, with a powerful army of Spanish veterans ; and for 
six years the country suffered under a tyranny which, for extent 
and ferocity, has few parallels in history. 

After the execution of Huss — A. D. 1415 — the Hussite war broke 
out in all its fury. Of all wars, none was so horribly remorseless, 
ostentatiously cruel as this — a war of races, of languages, and of 



PERSECUTION OF THE HERETICS. 109 

religion. It was a strife of revenge, of reprisal, of extermination, 
considered to be the holiest of duties. On one side no faith was to 
be kept, no mercy shown to heretics: to cut off the spreading plague 
by any means was paramount to all principles of law or gospel. On 
the other, vengeance was to be wreaked on the enemies of God's 
people, and therefore the enemies of God ; to root out idolatry was 
the mission of the Bohemians; mortal sin was to be cut off with the 
righteous sword ; and the whole priesthood, all monks, friars, nuns, 
were so utterly depraved, according to their sweeping condemna- 
tion, that it was only to fulfill the Divine commandment to extir- 
pate the irreclaimable Order. These terrible theories were relent- 
lessly carried into more terrible practice. Kuttenburg, the second 
city in the realm, the rival of Prague, Catholic and German as 
Prague was, Hussite and Bohemian, burned, beheaded, hanged all 
who would not retract their opinions. They bought the prisoners 
taken in war for a few groschens a head — five times as much for a 
preacher as for a common man — and executed them without trial, 
without mercy. They are charged with having put to death six- 
teen hundred men. The Hussites, wherever they could, perpe- 
trated horrible reprisals ; for so many of their brethren as were 
burned, they hanged as many monks or friars. — Mdmaris History 
of Latin Christianity. 

The Persecution of the Heretics. 

After the Albigensian Crusade, when the open war was at an 
end, the Church still pursued her exterminating warfare against 
her still rebellious subjects. The inquisition continued its silent, 
but not less inhuman, hardly less- destructive crusade. 

That tribunal, with all its peculiar statutes, its jurisdiction, its 
tremendous agency, was founded during this period. Its statutes 
framed after the successful termination of the war, in order abso- 
lutely to extirpate every lingering vestige of heresy, fo^m the code 
of persecution, which not merely aimed at suppressing all public 
teaching, but the more secret freedom of thought. It was a sys- 
tem which penetrated into the innermost sanctuary of domestic 
life ; and made delation not only a merit and a duty, but an obli- 
gation also, enforced by tremendous penalties. 

The court sat in profound secresy ; no advocate might appear 
before the tribunal, no witness was confronted with the accused : 
who were the informers, what the charges, except the vague charge 



110 APPENDIX. 

of heresy, no one knew. The suspected heretic was first summoned 
to declare, on oath, that he would speak the truth, the whole truth, 
of all persons whatsoever, living or dead, like himself, under the 
suspicion of heresy. If he refused, he was cast into a dungeon — a 
dungeon the darkest in those dreary ages — the most dismal, the 
most profound, the most noisome. No falsehood was too false, no 
craft too crafty, no trick too base for this calm, systematic moral 
torture, which was to wring further confession against himself, 
denunciation against others. It was the deliberate object to break 
the spirit. The prisoner was told that there were witnesses, unde- 
niable witnesses against him ; if convicted by such witnesses, his 
death was inevitable. In the meantime his food was to be slowly 
diminished till body and soul were prostrate. He was then to be 
left in darkness, solitude and silence. Then were to come one or 
two of the faithful, dexterous men, who were to speak in gentle 
words of interest and sympathy: "Fear not to confess that you 
have had dealings with those men, the teachers of heresy, because 
they seemed to you men of holiness and virtue; wiser than you have 
been deceived." These dexterous men were to speak of the Bible, 
of the Gospels, of the Epistles of St. Paul, to talk the very lan- 
guage, the scriptural language of the heretic. "These foxes," it 
was said, " can only be unearthed by fox-like cunning." But if all 
this art failed, then came terror, and the goading to despair. " Die 
you must — bethink you of your soul." Upon which, if the despe- 
rate man said, " If I must die, I will die in the true faith of the 
Gospel, ' — he had made his confession : justice claimed her victim. 

The Inquisition had three penalties : for those who recanted, 
penance in the severest forms which the Church might enact ; for 
those not absolutely convicted, perpetual imprisonment : for the 
obstinate or relapsed, death, — death at the stake. Such was the 
procedure, of which the instructions may now be read in their very 
words. Two, inquisitors were appointed in every city, but the 
Bishops needed no excitement to their eager zeal, no remonstrance 
against mistimed mercy to the heretics. At the Council of Nar- 
bonne, was issued a decree, that there were not prisons vast enough 
to contain those who deserved imprisonment for life. 

A division of the Franciscans, calling themselves spirituals, were 
loud in their denunciations of the corruptions of the Church. 
John XXII. was too sagacious not to foresee the peril ; too arro- 
gantly convinced, and too jealous, of his supreme spiritual author- 



PERSECUTION OF THE HERETICS. HI 

ity not to resent ; too merciless not to extirpate by the most cruel 
means these slowly-working enemies. Soon after his accession, 
Bull followed Bull equally damnatory. The Inquisition was com- 
mitted to Michael di Cesena, still the faithful subject of the Pope, 
and to seven others. Twenty-five monks were convicted, and 
sentenced first to degradation, then to perpetual imprisonment. 
They were brought to the stake and burned at Marseilles. They 
were condemned for the heresy of denying the Papal authority. 

The prisons of Narbonne and of Carcassonne were crowded with 
those who were spared the last penalty. Among these was the 
friar Deliciosus of Montpellier, a Franciscan, who had boldly with- 
stood the Inquisition, and was immured for life in a dungeon. He 
it was who declared that if St. Peter and St. Paul should return to 
earth, the Inquisition would lay hands on them, as damnable 
heretics. At Toulouse the public sermons of the Inquisition took 
place at intervals, and these sermons were rarely unaccompanied 
by proofs of their inefficacy. Men who would not be argued into 
belief must be burned. The corollary of a Christian sermon was a 
holocaust at the stake. 

In England a Statute was necessary to legalize the burning of 
heretics. The judgment was passed in the Ecclesiastical court or 
that of the Inquisition. The Statute bears the ill-omened appella- 
tion, " for the burning of heretics." The preamble was directed 
in the most comprehensive terms against the new preachers. These 
preachings, schools, books, were strictly inhibited. The Bishop of 
the diocese was empowered to arrest all persons accused or 
suspected of these acts, to imprison them, to bring them to trial in 
his court. "If he shall refuse to abjure such doctrines, or having 
abjured, relapse, sentence is to be recorded : a writ issued to the 
sheriff of the county, the mayor or bailiff of the nearest borough, 
who is to take order that on a high place in public, before the face 
of the people he be burned." 

Nor was this Statute an idle menace ; the Primate and the 
Bishops hastened to make examples under its terrible provisions. 

And, when later than this, Luther struck at the root of Roman 
Catholicism, though the power of the church was on the wane, 
persecution was again resorted to. — Milmaris History of Latin 
Christianity. 

Fanaticism grew fiercer every day ; evangelical ministers were 
expelled from their churches; magistrates were banished ; and at 



112 APPENDIX. 

times the most horrible punishments were inflicted. In Wurtem- 
burg, an inquisitor named Reichler caused the Lutherans, and 
above all the preachers, to be hanged upon trees. Barbarous 
ruffians were found, who unfeelingly nailed the pastors by their 
tongues to a post ; so that these unhappy victims, tearing them- 
selves violently from the wood to which they were fastened, were 
horribly mutilated in attempting to recover their liberty, and thus 
deprived of that gift which they had long used to proclaim the 
Gospel. 

At Landsburg nine persons were consigned to the flasmes, and at 
Munich twenty-nine were thrown into the water. 

Leclerc, one of the French reformers, was sentenced to be burnt 
alive, and taken out to the place of execution. Here a fearful 
scene awaited him. The cruelty of his persecutors had been con- 
triving all that could render his punishment more horrible. Near 
the scaffold men were heating pincers that were to serve as the 
instruments of their rage. Leclerc, firm and calm, heard unmoved 
the wild yells of the monks and people. They began by cutting 
off his right hand ; then taking up the burning pincers, they tore off 
his nose ; after this, they lacerated his arms, and when they had 
thus mangled them in several places, they concluded by burning his 
breasts. After these tortures Leclerc was burnt by a slow fire, in 
conformity with his sentence. 

It has been estimated that the number of persons burned alive 
under Torquemada, the first grand inquisitor, amounted to 8,800, 
those under Deza, to 1,664, and those under Cardinal Ximenez 
to 2,536. 

The Massacee of St. Baetholomew. 

The massacre of St. Bartholomew, was planned by the infamous 
Catharine de Medici, to take place at the celebration of the mar- 
riage of Henry of Navarre and Marguerite de Valois, with the 
object of exterminating the nobles and gentry of the Huguenot 
party, while plunged in the festivities of that joyous occasion. The 
city gates were shut and guarded, and all the Catholic inhabitants 
were ordered to illuminate their houses, both as a distinguishing 
mark', and as a means of giving sufficient light, by which to carry 
on the work of destruction. Orders were also dispatched to the 
royal governors of the principal cities of all the provinces to com- 
mence the same massacre at the same hour, and, although, in some 



THE SPANIARDS IN MEXICO. 113 

instances, the humanity of the officers led them to disobey their 
orders, the instructions were too generally followed. Coligni was 
run through the body, in spite of the resistance of some of his 
household, and thrown out of the window at the feet of the duke 
of Guise, who sat on horseback, coolly awaiting the performance 
of the dreadful deed, and when the bloody corpse was flung before 
his charger's hoofs on the pavement, dismounted and wiped the 
clotted gore from the victim's features, with his handkerchief, in 
order to assure himself that there had been no mistake ; when the 
fatal tocsin rang from the church of St. Germain, the horrid slaugh- 
ter began on the instant, and was deliberately prosecuted during 
several days, both in the capital and the large provincial towns. 
Neither sex nor age was spared ! 

The Spaniards in Mexico. 

The Spaniards entered Mexico with the sole intention of con- 
quest. Setting aside the question of right, in this intention, we 
will speak only of their manner of conducting this conquest. 

While occupying the city of Cholula, Cortes, fearing some 
treachery on the part of the Indians, determined to make an 
example of them that would strike the whole nation with terror. 
Large numbers of the Indians being gathered in a square of the 
city, the fatal signal, the discharge of an arquebuse, was given. 
In an instant every musket and cross-bow was levelled at the 
unfortunate Cholulans in the court-yard, and a frightful volley 
poured into them as they stood crowded together, like a herd of 
deer in the centre. They were taken by surprise, and made 
scarcely any resistance to the Spaniards, who followed up the dis- 
charge of their pieces by rushing on them with their swords ; and, 
as the half-naked bodies of the natives afforded no protection, they 
hewed them down with as much ease as the reaper mows down the 
ripe corn in harvest time. Some endeavored to scale the walls, 
. but. only afforded a surer mark to the arquebusiers and archers. 
Others threw themselves into the gateways, but were received on 
the long pikes of the soldiers who guarded them. Some few had 
better luck in hiding themselves under the heaps of slain with 
which the ground was soon loaded. 

While this work of death was going on, the countrymen of the 
slaughtered Indians, drawn together by the noise of the massacre, 
had commenced a furious assault on the Spaniards from without. 
H 



114 APPENDIX. 

But Cortes had placed his battery of heavy guns in a position that 
commanded the avenues, and swept off the files of the assailants 
as they rushed on. In the intervals between the discharges, which, 
in the imperfect state of the science in that day, were much longer 
than in ours, he forced back the press by charging with the horse 
into the midst. The steeds, the guns, the weapons of the Spaniards 
were all new to the Cholulans. Notwithstanding the novelty of 
the terrific spectacle, the flash of fire-arms mingling with the deaf- 
ening roar of the artillery, as its thunders reverberated among the 
buildings, the despairing Indians pushed on to take the places of 
their fallen comrades. At last, forced to give way, they flung 
themselves into the wooden turrets that crowned the temple, and 
poured down stones, javelins and burning arrows on the Spaniards, 
as they climbed the great staircase, which, by a flight of one hun- 
dred and twenty steps, scaled the face of the pyramid. But the 
fiery shower fell harmless on the steel bonnets of the Christians, 
while they availed themselves of the burning shafts to set fire to 
the wooden citadel, which was speedily wrapt in flames. 

All was now confusion and uproar in the fair city, which had so 
lately reposed in security and peace. The groans of the dying, 
the frantic supplications of the vanquished for mercy, were mingled 
with the loud battle-cries of the Spaniards as they rode down their 
enemy. The tumult was still further swelled by the incessant 
rattle of musketry, and the crash of falling timbers, which sent 
up a volume of flame that outshone the ruddy light of morning, 
making altogether a hideous confusion of sights and sounds, that 
converted the Holy City into a Pandemonium. As resistance 
slackened, the victors broke into the houses and sacred places, 
plundering them of whatever valuables they contained, plate, 
jewels, which were found in some quantity, wearing apparel, and 
provisions. Cortes, in his letter to Charles the Fifth, admits three 
thousand slain, most accounts say six, and some swell the amount 
yet higher. 

It was common for the Aztecs to celebrate an annual festival in 
May, in honor of their patron war-god. The Spaniards gave their 
consent to this feast, on condition that they should come without 
weapons. They assembled accordingly on the day appointed, to 
the number of six hundred, at the smallest computation. 

Alvarado and his soldiers attended as spectators, some of them 
taking their station at the gates, as if by chance, and others ming- 



THE SPANIARDS IN PERU. 115 

ling in the crowd. They were all armed, a circumstance, which, 
as it was usual, excited no attention. The Aztecs were soon 
engrossed by the exciting movement of the dance, accompanied by 
their religious chant, and wild, discordant minstrelsy. While thus 
occupied, Alvarado and his men, at a concerted signal, rushed 
with drawn swords on their victims. Unprotected by armor or 
weapons of any kind, they were hewn down without resistance by 
their assailants, who, in their bloody work, says a contemporary, 
showed no touch of pity or compunction. Some fled to the gates, 
but were caught on the long pikes of the soldiers. Others, who 
attempted to scale the Coatepantli, or Wall of Serpents, as it w T as 
called, which surrounded the area, shared the like fate, or were cut 
to pieces, or shot by the ruthless soldiery. The pavement, says a 
writer of the age, ran with streams of blood, like water in a heavy 
shower. Not an Aztec, of all that gay company, was left alive ! 
It was repeating the dreadful scene of Cholula, with the disgraceful 
addition, that the Spaniards, not content with slaughtering their 
victims, rifled them of the precious ornamentson their persons ! On 
this sad day fell the flower of the Aztec nobility. Not a family of 
note, but had mourning and desolation brought within its walls. 
And now, with all allowance for the ferocity of the age and the 
laxity of its principles, it must be admitted that these are passages 
which every Spaniard, who cherishes the fame of his countrymen, 
would be glad to see expunged from history ; passages not to be 
vindicated on the score of self-defence, or of necessity of any kind, 
and which must forever leave a dark spot on the annals of the 
Conquest. And yet, taken as a whole, the invasion was conducted 
on principles less revolting to humanity, than most, perhaps than 
any, of the other conquests of the Castilian crown in the New 
World. — Prescott. 

The Spaniards in Peru. 

Soon after the Spaniards entered Peru, the Inca consented to 
visit them, and to come unarmed. He entered Caxamalca at the 
head of a large number of his people, and was received in one of 
the squares of the city by Pizarro's chaplain, who, after explaining 
the Christian belief, and dwelling particularly on the Pope's 
authority over all nations, concluded with beseeching the Peruvian 
monarch to abjure the errors of his own faith, and embrace that 
of the Christians now proffered to him, the only one by which he 



1 1 6 APPENDIX. 

could hope for salvation ; and, furthermore, to acknowledge him- 
self a tributary of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who, in that 
event, would aid and protect him as his loyal vassal. 

The eyes of the India?* monarch flashed fire, and his dark brow 
grew darker as he replied, — "I will be no man's tributary. I am 
greater than any prince upon earth. Your emperor may be a 
great prince ; I do not doubt it when I see that he has sent his 
subjects so far across the waters ; and I am willing to hold him as 
a brother. As for the Pope, of whom you speak, he must be 
crazy to talk of giving away countries which do not belong to him. 
For my faith," he continued, "I will not change it. Your own 
God, as you say, was put to death by the very men whom he 
created. But mine," he concluded, pointing to his Deity, — then, 
sinking in glory behind the mountains, — " my God still lives in the 
heavens, and looks down on his children." 

Pizarro saw that the hour had come. He waved a white scarf 
in the air, the appointed signal. The fatal gun was fired from 
the fortress. Then, springing into the square, the Spanish captain 
and his followers shouted the old war-cry of " St. Jago and at 
them." It was answered by the battle-cry of every Spaniard in 
the city, as, rushing from the avenues of the great halls in which 
they were concealed, they poured into the plaza, horse and foot, 
each in his own dark column, and threw themselves into the midst 
of the Indian crowd. The latter, taken by surprise, stunned by 
the report of artillery and muskets, the echoes of which rever- 
berated like thunder from the surrounding buildings, and blinded 
by the smoke which rolled in sulphureous volumes along the square, 
were seized with a panic. They knew not whither to fly for refuge 
from the coming ruin. Nobles and commoners, — all were trampled 
down under the fierce charge of the cavalry, who dealt their blows, 
right and left, without sparing, while their swords, flashing through 
the thick gloom, carried dismay into the hearts of the wretched 
natives, who now, for the first time, saw the horse and his rider in 
all their terrors. They made no resistance, — as, indeed, they had 
no weapons with which to make it. Every avenue to escape was 
closed, for the entrance to the square was choked up with the dead 
bodies of men who had perished in vain efforts to fly ; and, such 
was the agony of the survivors under the terrible pressure of their 
assailants, that a large body of Indians, by their convulsive strug- 
gles, burst through the wall of stone and dried clay which formed 



THE SPANIARDS IN PERU. 117 

part of the boundary of the plaza ! It fell, leaving an opening of 
more than a hundred paces, through which multitudes now found 
their way into the country, still hotly pursued by the cavalry, 
who, leaping the fallen rubbish, hung on the rear of the fugitives, 
striking them down in all directions. 

Meanwhile the fight, or rather the massacre, continued hot round 
the Inca, whose person was the great object of the assault. His 
faithful nobles, rallying about him, threw themselves in the "way of 
the assailants, and strove by tearing them from their saddles, or, at 
least, by offering their own bosoms as a mark for their vengeance, 
to shield their beloved master. Thus they continued to force back 
the cavaliers, clinging to their horses with dying grasp, and, as one 
was cut down, another taking the place of his fallen comrade with 
a loyalty truly affecting. 

The Indian monarch, stunned and bewildered, saw his faithful 
subjects falling round him without fully comprehending his situa- 
tion. The litter on which he rode heaved to and fro, as the mighty 
press swayed backwards and forwards ; and he gazed on the over- 
whelming ruin, like some forlorn mariner, who, tossed about in his 
bark by the furious elements, sees the lightning's flash and hears 
the thunder bursting around him with the consciousness that he 
can do nothing to avert his fate. At length, weary with the 
work of destruction, the Spaniards, as the shades of evening grew 
deeper, felt afraid that the royal prize might, after all, elude them; 
and some of the cavaliers made a desperate attempt to end the 
affray at once by taking Atahuallpa's life. But Pizarro, who was 
nearest his person, called out with stentorian voice, " Let no one, 
who values his life, strike at the Inca ;" and, stretching out his 
arm to shield him, received a wound on the hand from one of his 
own men, — the only wound received by a Spaniard in the action. 

The number of slain is reported, as usual, with great discrep- 
ancy. Pizarro's Secretary says two thousand natives fell. A de- 
scendant of the Incas swells the number to ten thousand. 

It was not long before Atahuallpa discovered, amidst all the 
show of religious zeal in his conquerors, a lurking appetite more 
potent, in most of their bosoms, than either religion or ambition. 
This was the love of gold. He determined to avail himself of it to 
procure his own freedom. 

In the hope, therefore, to effect his purpose, by appealing to the 
avarice of his keepers, he one day told Pizarro, that if he would set 



118 APPENDIX. 

him free, he would engage to covpr the floor of the apartment on 
which they stood with gold. Those present listened with an incred- 
ulous smile; and as the Inca received no answer, he said with some 
emphasis, that " he would not merely cover the floor, but would fill 
the room with gold as high as he could reach;" and, standing on 
tiptoe, he stretched out his hand against the wall. Although this 
ransom was paid, the Spaniards on some frivolous accusation, sen- 
tenced him to death. "When the sentence was communicated to 
the Inca, he exclaimed, " What have I done, or my children, that 
I should meet such a fate? And from your hands, too," said he, 
addressing Pizarro, "you, who have met with friendship and kind- 
ness from my people, with whom I have shared my treasures, who 
have received nothing but benefits from my hands !" In the most 
piteous tones, he then implored that his life might be spared, prom- 
ising any guaranty that might be required for the safety of every 
Spaniard in the army, promising double the ransom he had already 
paid, if time were only given him to obtain it. 

Finding, however, that he had no power to turn his conqueror 
from his purpose, he recovered his habitual self-possession, and 
from that moment submitted himself to his fate with the courage of 
an Indian warrior. 

Civilization and Theology. 

Many of these cruelties were committed by those who prided 
themselves on being in the head and front of the civilization, which 
is claimed to have sprung from the teaching and influence of 
Christian theology, but which, in fact, has sprung up in these our 
times — as it has, in other times, in Egyptian, Grecian, Roman and 
South American communities, under the advantages afforded by 
the accumulation of wealth which goes, hand in hand, with mental 
culture and the development of the arts and sciences, each 
fostering and forwarding the other. The discovery of the art of 
printing has been of immense service in increasing and perpetua- 
ting civilization in later days, by diffusing and retaining knowledge 
for the benefit of each succeeding generation, and by bringing mind 
into collision with mind. 

Printing and Civilization. 

But the inventor ot the printing press was denounced by the 
Christian theologians of his day, as being in league with the devil, 



PRINTING AND CIVILIZATION. 119 

inasmuch as copies of the Bible could be produced by means of 
printing, with a celerity, and in quantities, never before heard or 
dreamed of — thus leading the way to the discovery of the cheat 
which the theologians were practising on the masses. Now, how- 
ever, the Church authorities seize upon the evident and rapid 
advance in intellectual culture and knowledge in Christian coun- 
tries, as compared with others, and claim that this is due 
entirely to the promulgation of Christianity ; where, as it is due 
entirely to the circumstance that the printing press was invented 
and put into operation in a Christian country, in despite of the 
theologians who denounced it. That the dark side of human 
nature here presented, is the exception and not the general rule, 
even in Christian countries, we freely admit. It is one of the 
objects of this work to maintain that the good, the true, and the 
kind in the human nature largely predominate, notwithstanding 
the habit of the clergy of representing unregenerate man — that is, 
all not within the pale of, and paying tithes to the church — as 
utterly corrupt and having no good in them. This habit of 
dilating so continually on the darker side of human nature 
amounts to a gross and palpable libel on the species. Theologians, 
habitually measuring character by its aberrations, and estimating 
strong and passionate natures by their failings, rather than by their 
virtues — which largely predominate, have fallen into a signal 
injustice. And this is the more inexcusable, inasmuch as in their 
own sacred volume, the Psalms of David are a conspicuous proof 
how a noble, tender, and passionate nature could survive, even in 
an adulterer and a murderer. 

Now, from whatever cause this persistent course of the Christian 
Theologians, in representing man in his natural state as altogether 
under the empire of evil, proceeds — whether from love of denomi- 
nation, interest, or other causes — nothing can be more certain than 
that excellence and not vice is prominent and distinctive in human 
nature in its most primitive state. 

The more the intellectual faculties are cultivated and lend their 
aid to the moral perceptions, and kindly promptings of the heart, 
the more rapid is the advance in the pursuit of the good, the right, 
and the virtuous. But good greatly preponderates over evil, even 
in the incipient stages of human society. Benevolence is more 
common than cruelty. The sight of suffering produces pity, rather 
than joy. Gratitude, not ingratitude, is the normal result of a 



120 APPENDIX. 

conferred benefit. The sympathies of man naturally follow 
heroism and goodness. In fine, virtue and not vice — love, and not 
hate, predominate in human nature ; while vice itself is usually 
but an exaggeration or distortion of tendencies that are in their 
own nature perfectly innocent. 

We have herein presented to notice some of the great crimes 
known to history, that have been committed by the inhabitants of 
Christian countries, who are understood to have had the benefit of 
the teachings of the Church. And we would remind those who 
attempt to build up Church interests, and prove its beneficial 
effects upon man, by contrasting the moral conduct of Christian 
nations with that of Heathen, that — when fairly made — Christians 
lose rather than gain by the comparison. As to attributing the 
advanced state of mental culture and civilization to the influence 
of the Church, instead of the art of printing, the cause of truth 
will be served by calling attention to certain doings of the Church 
here given, before the printing press came into use. 



LIST OF BOOKS CONSULTED, 

AND FROM WHICH EXTRACTS HAVE BEEN MADE. 

11 Essays on the Language, Writings and Religion of the Parsees,' 

by Martin Haug. 
"Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names," by Thomas Inman, 

M.D. 
" Sangermano's Burmese Empire," by Tandy. 
" The Rig- Veda Sanhita," Translated by Wilson and Cowell. 
Legge's " Life and Teachings of Confucius." 
Grote's " Plato." 
"The Ten Tribes of Israel, and Mexican Antiquities," by Mrs. 

Simon. 
" The Koran," by George Sale. 
" A Voice from the Ganges." 
11 The Dervishes," by J. P. Brown. 
11 A Brief View of Greek Philosophy," by a Pariah. 
"Philosophical Theories, and Philosophical Experience," by a 

Pariah. 
The Works of Thomas Hobbes; Dugald Stewart; John Stuart 

Mill ; Lord Macaulay ; Dr. Channing ; Theodore Parker ; 

Humboldt ; J. G. Fichte ; and George Combe. 
" The Bridgewater Treatises," by Drs. Chalmers, Whewell and 

others. 
Bishop Colenso on the Pentateuch. 
Bunsen's " God in History." 
Buckle's " History of Civilization in England." 
Lecky's " History of European Morals, from Augustus to Charle- 
magne." 
Renan's " Life of Jesus." 
"New Life of Jesus," by Strauss. 
"The Divine Government," by Southwood Smith. 
" Fellowes' Religion of the Universe." 
11 The Universal Church." 
" Maurice's " Religions of the World.' 



122 APPENDIX. 

McCausland's " Adam and the Adamites." 

" Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation." 

Prescott's "Conquest of Mexico;" and "of Peru." 

" Essays and Reviews." 

Draper's "Intellectual Development of Europe." 

Mansel's " Bampton Lectures." 

Froude's " Short Studies on Great Subjects.' 

" Ecce Homo." 

" Force and Matter," by Louis Biichner. 

Lewes' " History of Philosophy." 

" The State of Man before Christianity." 

S. W. Hall's " Law of Impersonation." 

" Discussion of the Unity, Duality and Trinity of the Godhead." 

Bernard's " Cambridge Free Thoughts." 

Quarterly Review on "The Talmud." 

F. W. Newman's " Phases of Faith." 

"What is Truth?" 

Coupland's " Incentives to the Higher Life. 

Leigh Hunt's " Religion of the Heart." 

"The Creed of Christendom," by W. R. Greg. 

" The Method of the Divine Government, by Dr. McCosh. 

"Pindar," and "Cicero," in Bohn's Classical Library. 

" Indigenous Races of the Earth." 

Milman's "History of the Jews;" "of Christianity;" and "of 

Latin Christianity." 
" Chips from a German Workshop," by Max Muller. 
D'Aubigne's " History of the Reformation." 
" Christ, and other Masters," by Archdeacon Hardwick. 
Appleton's Cyclopcedia. 



INDEX 



PAGE- 

Preface iii 

Introductory... ~ v 

Some pretend to inspiration 1 

Signs and Creeds at variance 3 

Jews but little known 5 

Jesus' protest only partial 7 

Councils assume infallible power 9 

Massacre of the Innocents 11 

Ancient legends 13 

Incredible statements of the Old Testament 15 

Jesus tempted of the Devil 20 

Divinity of Jesus not believed 21 

Mythology of the Virgin Mary 23 

Influence of the Printing Press 25 

Progress of the Sciences 27 

Infidelity no reproach 29 

The Christian Heaven 31 

Science undermining Theology 33 

A Protest against Theologies , 35 

God all-powerful 37 

The Teachings of the Book of Nature 39 

Labor, Pain and Death, not evils 41 

Man's wonderful organization 45 

Instances of Instinct 47 

Recuperative Powers of Nature 51 

Church Method of Salvation 53 

God's Method of Salvation 55 

Prayer 57 

Fasting injurious 59 

God's Laws all-sufficient 61 

None destined to endless misery 63 



124 INDEX. 

Moral Evil 65 

Prayer the effect of ignorance 67 

The God of Moses 71 

Priestcraft 78 

Influence of the True Religion 75 

God's care for man 77 

Man's intellect expanding 79 

Eternal happiness 81 

The Clergy shall accept truth 83 

Moral Instincts 85 

It guides us unperceived 87 

Good Works 89 

True Basis of Religion 91 

Early History of Man 98 

Study of other Theologies 95 

Innate promptings of the heart 97 

The Devil 99 

Punishment not retrospective l( 1 

Happiness of this Life 103 

Man's trust in God 105 

Pain — a blessing 107 

Man's individuality hereafter 109 

Limited free agency Ill 

God's laws unchangeable 113 

Supposed Saviours 115 

Jesus' Second Coming 119 

Man's craving for truth 121 

Yearning of the human soul 123 

The Trinity 125 

God's Laws 127 

Moral Laws 129 

Conscience 131 

Man's confidence in Nature 135 

The Moral Law 137 

Science the ally of Religion 143 

Providential interference 145 

Erroneous Ideas of Heaven 147 

Attributes of God , 149 

God in Nature 151 

The Divine Character 158 



INDEX. 125 



PAGE. 



No remission of penalty 155 

Introduction to Bible Criticism 157 

Vagueness of Prophecies 159 

Supernatural inspiration incredible 161 

Failure of precise predictions 163 

Different Parables 165 

Erroneous deductions 167 

Christianity not original 171 

Simplicity of True Religion 173 

Christ's real teachings 175 

God's evil passions 177 

God likened to man corporeally 181 

Blind reliance on Scripture 183 

Compounding for sin 185 

Adam's doom not spiritual 187 

The story of the Fall of Man 189 

Its inconsistencies 191 

Bible account of the Fall of Man 193 

Man's original condition 197 

Instant change in animal life 199 

Death indispensable 201 

The food of animals 203 

Beautiful Laws of Nature 205 

God's original laws unchanged 207 

Origin of the Human Race 209 

Eternal Life is to be earthly 211 

Salvation not spiritual 213 

The World— Past, Present aud Future 217 

Christ's pretended Miracles 219 

Some Miracles explained 221 

Different Miracles 225 

Jewish Tests of the Messiahship 227 

The Throne of David 231 

Jesus' progressive ideas 233 

He becomes imperious 235 

Object of Christ and Apostles 237 

Priesthood naturally incensed 241 

Christian Sacrifice absurd 243 

Jesus repudiates it 245 

The Old Te'stament on Sacrifice 247 



126 INDEX. 

Page. 

The New Testament on Sacrifice 249 

Christ denounces it 253 

Obscurity of the Bible 257 

Sectarian recrimination the result.* 259 

Jesus did not claim Divinity 261 

His opinion of himself 263 

Miracles — the means of Proof of his Divinity 265 

Texts in favor of One God only 267 

Further proofs 271 

Jesus' idea of his Mission 275 

No warrant for this idea 277 

Texts disproving Jesus' Divinity 279 

Jesus' teaching 281 

Jesus never claimed Divinity 283 

Ingenuity of the Priests 285 

Character of Jesus' Precepts 287 

Ananias and Sapphira , 293 

Rational explanations of their death 295 

Threat of Eternal Punishment 297 

Jesus not a Saviour 299 

The Spirit of Man restless 301 

Belief in Jesus 303 

Jesus as a Teacher 305 

No good results from the belief in the Divinity of Jesus 309 

Working of Miracles 313 

Jesus' teaching impracticable 315 

Jesus' code visionary 319 

The Arrest of Jesus 321 

His Crucifixion 323 

Jesus' character 325 

The Prophecies in Revelations 327 

The Kingdom of God in the Soul 329 

The Apostles equal to Jesus 331 

God the Only Saviour 333 

Worship of Jesus . 335 

Ceremonies of the Churches 337 

Jesus' teaching not uniform 339 

Jesus' Second Advent 341 

Salvation for all 343 



INDEX. 127 

APPENDIX. 

PAGE. 

Zoroastrianism , 1 

Mohammedanism 7 

Buddhism 16 

The Burmese , 28 

The Hindoos 38 

Confucianism 46 

Mexico and Peru 61 

The Talmud 69 

Egyptian History 73 

Stoicism 77 

Classical Antiquity 79 

Cicero , 80 

Pindar 81 

Plato 82 

Epicurus 83 

Socrates 84 

Xenophanes 86 

Herakleitus 86 

Protagorus 86 

Grecian History 86 

Sacred Book of the Mexicans . 87 

Extracts from " Popol Vuh" 87 

Beliefs of the American Indians 90 

Belief of the New Hollanders 91 

Belief of the Icelanders 91 

Christian Theology no restraint 92 

Contentious of the Early Church 92 

Later Crimes of the Church 95 

The Crusades 102 

The Persecution of the Jews 104 

Albigensian "War 107 

Persecution of the Heretics 109 

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew 112 

The Spaniards in Mexico 113 

The Spaniards in Peru 115 

Civilization and Theology .....118 

Printing and Civilization 118 

List of Books consulted 121 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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